Pornanong Phatlum leads from Georgia Hall at Ricoh WBO

Venue: Royal Lytham and St Annes

Overnight leaders
203 (-13) Pornanong Phatlum (Thai) 67 67 69
204 Georgia Hall (Eng) 67 68 69.
205 So-Yeon Ryu (SKor) 69 69 67

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Then, on Sunday, the final-round scoring

PHATLUM FIRING ON ALL CYLINDERS

By looking at the statistics sheet, it’s easy to see why Pornanong Phatlum is leading the Ricoh Women’s British Open. She has hit 38 of 42 fairways and 50 of 54 greens in regulation, an astounding display of accuracy. Phatlum has five more fairways than her closest competitors (33 apiece for Hyo Joo Kim, Mo Martin and Annie Park) and five more greens in regulation (45 for Amy Olson).

MAJOR CHAMPIONS LURKING

While Pornanong Phatlum holds the lead going into the final round, there is no lack of major experience lurking in the top 10. Two-time major winner So Yeon Ryu trails by two strokes, no doubt hoping to erase the memory of her final-round collapse and playoff loss at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in July. Sung Hyun Park, whose brilliant short game propelled her to that KPMG four-stroke comeback victory, is just three strokes behind Phatlum. Brooke Henderson is five strokes behind, while Lydia Ko would need to come back from a six-stroke deficit.

The largest comeback in Ricoh Women’s British Open history is four strokes, done by Se Ri Pak in 2001. The largest comeback in major history is seven strokes, done by Patty Sheehan at the 1983 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and Karrie Webb at the 2006 ANA Inspiration.