Catching Kerr

Remarkable 5-under 66 Propels Kerr Into Front After 3 Rounds

Southern Pines, N.C. – Two battle-tested LPGA Tour players with multiple wins on their résumés have a chance to end their major-championship droughts on Sunday afternoon.

Cristie Kerr, 29, of Miami, Fla., and 25-year-old Lorena Ochoa of Mexico, the world’s No. 1-ranked player, will be in the final grouping at the 2007 U.S. Women’s Open at Pine Needles. Kerr owns nine LPGA Tour victories and Ochoa, who has won three times this year already, has 12 wins. Neither, however, has hoisted a major trophy.

The third member of that final threesome will be 2007 Kraft Nabisco champion Morgan Pressel, 19, of Boca Raton, Fla., who made a terrific par save at 18 to shoot a 2-under-par 69 (3-under 210).

Morgan Pressel lines up a putt on the 14th hole Sunday during the third round. Although she carded bogey, she stands one shot off the lead entering the fourth round. (Fred Vuich/USGA)

Korea’s Ji-Yai Shin had an even-par 71 to also share second with Ochoa and Pressel, but she’ll be in the penultimate grouping with 19-year-old Angela Park of Brazil and Joo-Mi Kim of Korea.

Park, the second-round leader, bogeyed 18 to shoot a 74 and stands two behind Kerr. Kim and fellow Koreans Jeong Jang and In-Bee Park share sixth place at even-par 213, four shots back.

The final round was set to being at 10:50 a.m., with the final group starting at 12:45 p.m.

Early Sunday morning, Kerr put herself in position with the lowest round of the championship, a 5-under-par 66 that catapulted her into the outright 54-hole lead at 4-under 209. Needing to play five holes to complete her third round, Kerr, who leads Ochoa and Pressel by a stroke, started with a bogey at No. 14, but birdied the par-5 15th, then closed with three consecutive pars. Through 54 holes, Kerr is tied for second in putting at 1.56 per round.

This is Kerr’s 42nd major-championship appearance and 12th U.S. Women’s Open. She tied for second at the 2000 Women’s Open at The Merit Club and shared fourth a year later at Pine Needles. At the 1996 Women’s Open, she was the low amateur at Pine Needles before turning pro later that year. She also has seven other top-10 finishes in majors.

Ochoa briefly had the outright lead when she started Sunday with a birdie at No. 12. But she bogeyed the 14th hole – her first in 25 holes – when she failed to get up and down from a greenside bunker. She is now 0-for-4 in sand saves this week. She also missed an 8-foot birdie putt at 15. Ochoa closed with a three-putt bogey at 18 for a 3-under 68 and a 54-hole total of 210.

Ochoa leads the field in greens in regulation (85 percent) but she is tied for 38th in putting at 1.72 per green. She owns 12 top-10 finishes in 22 majors, including a runner-up showing at the 2006 Kraft Nabisco. Her best U.S. Women’s Open finish was a tie for sixth in 2005 at Cherry Hills when she quadruple-bogeyed the 72nd hole.

Pressel also came close to tasting victory at the Women’s Open, albeit as a 17-year-old amateur in 2005. Birdie Kim’s miraculous hole-out from a greenside bunker at the 72nd hole stole the championship away. Pressel then went on to win the U.S. Women’s Amateur that August.

David Shefter is a USGA staff writer. E-mail him with questions or comments at dshefter@usga.org.