Woad opens up three stroke lead in the Queen City
By Amy Rogers
CINCINNATI - Forecasted storms arrived as predicted on Saturday morning at the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G, which led to the third round being postponed just an hour and a half after it began. Following a delay of two and a half hours, play resumed at 11:34 a.m. ET.
Once play resumed, Lottie Woad, who began the day one stroke off the lead, quickly made her move to the top of the leaderboard with an early birdie at the par four, third hole to join 36-hole co-leader, Amanda Doherty. Woad, who missed the cut in her last start at the Mizuho Americas Open, showed few weaknesses on Saturday as she gave up just two bogeys to her seven birdies for a round of 65 to take a three-stroke lead into Sunday.
“I think my iron play was really good,” Woad said about her round. “I hit more greens and more shots inside eight feet to give myself more chances.”
Woad separated herself from the field with four birdies in a five hole stretch as she made the turn and had an opportunity to extend her lead even further by reaching the par five, 14th hole in two, where she slid her eagle effort past the edge of the hole and settled for a two-putt birdie to extend her lead to four. Woad hit her approach in tight to the par four, 16th hole for another easy birdie from 10 feet to pull five strokes clear of the field.
One of her few mistakes of the day came at the par four, 17th hole where she missed the fairway with her tee shot and had to punch out into the fairway, unable to reach the green in two. Woad dropped her second shot of the day to cut her lead to four.
Woad is playing her first full season on the LPGA Tour and come Sunday will be chasing her second career win on Tour. The Englishwoman won in her first start as a member at the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open in 2025.
“I’m looking forward to being in contention again,” Woad said about holding the overnight lead. “I think this year I’ve been back-dooring top 10s, top 15s, so I haven’t really been challenging on Sunday, so I’m looking forward to playing under pressure.”
Doherty, Woad’s closest chaser, sits at eight-under par, with a round of 69 on Saturday. Haeran Ryu, who rolled in five birdies in a six hole stretch to vault inside the top 10 with a 66 on moving day to sit at seven-under par.
Ko scrambled through Saturday’s third round, in which she found only half the fairways, to remain in the mix at six-under par through 54-holes. The LPGA Tour Hall of Fame member dropped shots on two of her first five holes but rallied on the back nine with back-to-back birdies at the par four, 13th and par five, 14th holes for a round of 69.
Rose Zhang moved to five-under par by matching her low round of the season with a bogey-free, 66. Zhang got off to a hot start with a 31 on the front side, but then struggled to get any putts to drop on the back nine. She closed with nine consecutive pars and needed 30 putts on Saturday. Zhang said the first two days, in which she opened with rounds of 70-69, she felt like she was still recovering from the 39 holes she played in the U.S. Women’s Open qualifier on Monday, in which she finished as a first alternate.
“I think the first two days my ball striking was just not there,” Zhang said about her start to the week. “It's been a lot of golf, and today I've been more prepared to kind of help my body prepare for the round that I'm about to play. Was able to open my back up a little bit to get myself in the spots that I needed to on the golf swing and feeling that rhythm.”
Zhang sits at five-under par along with Lindy Duncan, Anne Chen, Rio Takeda, and Jeeno Thitikul.
At four-under par sits Lilia Vu, who rebounded from a 73 on Friday with a 66 on Saturday to put herself in the hunt heading into Sunday’s final round. Vu made birdies at Nos. 2, 4, and 6 offset by a single dropped shot at the difficult par three, 9th hole to make the turn in 33. But the real fireworks came at the turn as Vu went birdie-eagle, punctuated by the two she made at the par four, 11th where the tee was moved up for the third round. With her recent loss in distance, Vu decided to hit her tee ball towards the cart path up the right side, which gave her a better angle to the left pin location.
“I had maybe about seven, eight yards in and then hit my 60. I knew I could land it anywhere left because it kind of just bowls in,” Vu said about her approach that found the hole. “I guess I hit it really well. I didn't see it, but Charley [Hull] was able to see it and she said it went up on the fringe and then came back and then rolled in. I was like, I'll take it on this hole.”
Vu’s struggles have been well documented, but she says that she made a shift in mindset that has led to her success this week - going from a left minded and left side dominant golfer to focusing on the right side of her swing. Vu says the change was motivated by a pain she was feeling in her left rib.
“I feel like everybody is getting better really quickly, so I feel like it's time to just amp it up.
That's what I said or what I did on Sunday when I was able to practice,” Vu said about her change in swing thought. “I'm like, if I just switch my feel from left to right, let's see what happens, and it's actually something that I should have done sooner.”
Vu sits at four-under par along with Ryann O’Toole, Patty Tavatanakit, In Gee Chun, Ruoning Yin, and Ina Yoon.
World No. 1 Nelly Korda’s struggles with her game continued for the third consecutive day at Maketewah Country Club where she waited until her 10th hole of the day to make her first birdie. Korda carded a two-over par round of 72 to drop to two-under par and for the first time this season won’t play in the final group on Sunday as she has done in each of her six prior starts this season.
