Coming into the third round of the 2025 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, Minjee Lee trailed the No. 2 ranked player in the world Jeeno Thitikul by three shots, she now leads by four after a brilliant -3 69 got her to -6 for the tournament.
Lee was really playing composed golf from the start. While everyone else on the leaderboard around her fell apart, she stayed steady with no bogeys on the scorecard. She got her first birdie to go right before the turn on the par 5 ninth, and answered with two more on the back, 14 and 15.
Lee ranked No. 4 in strokes gained off the tee, No. 5 in strokes gained around the greens and No. 4 in strokes gained putting. She was second in total strokes gained behind only her fellow Aussie Grace Kim, who shot up into the top 10 with a brilliant -4 round after going out early in the day. They were the only two players in the top 25 with under par rounds Saturday.
On the flip side, not much went right for Thitikul, especially on the back nine. While she made a brilliant par on 18 despite a ball in high, thick rough and an approach that went into the bunker, it was a mess all around for one of the most consistent players in the world.
After dominating on the greens in the first two rounds, Thitikul lost 1.216 strokes Saturday, which was No. 59 out of 78 players. She didn’t get a whole lot of help from the other parts of her game, as she lost strokes driving and on approach as well. She shot +4 for the round with six bogeys on the day, four coming on the back nine. She sits at -2 for the tournament, four strokes back of the lead.
Elsewhere, Lexi Thompson had a brilliant round after starting her day with a triple bogey on the first hole. Thompson played the last 10 holes at -2 and earned a spot in the penultimate pairing at +1 for the tournament.
Also in the penultimate group will be world No. 1 Nelly Korda, who had a really solid day after starting +2 on the opening two holes. She played the final five holes in -2 and has an outside shot if Minjee Lee runs into trouble.
This final round will likely come down solely to the play of Minjee Lee. Big leads can get erased, Lee maybe knows more than anyone on Tour. Her first major title at Evian, she came from seven shots back on the final day to defeat Jeongeun Lee6. She also had a big lead last year at the U.S. Women’s Open, but shot +9 in the final round.
If Lee plays par golf, she will likely be hoisting her third major championship trophy, regardless of what the field does.
