Ruoning Yin carded a 4–under–par 67 to grab the solo lead after three rounds of the DIO Implant LA Open on Saturday, April 1, in Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.
Yin sits at 14 under for the tournament, two shots in front of second-round co-leader Hyo Joo Kim, who shot 69 at Palos Verdes Golf Club.
Georgia Hall fired a 62 to vault 26 spots on moving day into solo third, four shots back at 10 under.
Top American in contention Danielle Kang shot a 65 to tie a quartet of players for fourth at 9 under.
Yin posted six birdies against two bogeys to earn the first 54-hole lead of her career.
“Feels pretty good actually, but I was a little struggling with my putting on the front nine,” Yin said. “After 8, which I made a bogey with a three-putt, I just told myself and I told my caddie, I said, ‘We just got to trust the line and putt it. We‘ll make some putts.’ ”
Kim carded three birdies on the front but tallied two bogeys and a birdie coming in.
“On the first half, the front nine, the putter was working really well, but my shots weren’t really on par with my putter, so I was kind of busy with my recovery shots,” Kim said. “Hopefully the shots tomorrow will be better than today’s.”
And then there was Hall’s round, which featured two eagles and five birdies in a bogey-free round.
“I knew I was playing really well, and I didn’t have the round I wanted at all yesterday, so I was just trying to stay really patient and I knew that I could take advantage of the front nine,” Hall said. “I managed to get a couple eagles in there, which I was very happy about.”
Americans in contention for Sunday’s final round are Megan Khang (–8) tied for 8th with Canadian Maude-Aimee Leblanc—Nelly Korda and Lucy Li are tied for 10th at –7 alongside Jodi Swart Shadoff of England.
