Jeongeun Lee6 extended her lead to five shots on Saturday at the Amundi Evian Championship and has a chance to break In Gee Chun’s record for the lowest major score in relation to par. Chun shot 21 under to win the 2016 Evian Championship.
Despite a shakier start to her third round – even par through 10 holes – compared to the first two days, Lee6 had luck on her side, holing out from 88 yards on the par-4 11th.
Lee6 birdied the 15th hole to go 3 under for the day, but two holes later, on the par-4 17th, she hit her worst shot of the tournament, pull-hooking an iron from an uphill lie that almost went out-of-bounds. She squeaked away with a bogey and then birdied the par-5 18th for a 68, following her major record-tying 61 on Friday.
“I'm satisfied with my result today,” Lee6 told the press after her round, noting that her poor shots didn’t put her in much trouble and she cleaned up the pars with her impeccable short game.
When asked if her 2019 U.S. Women's Open win relieves any pressure for Sunday’s round at Evian Resort Golf Club, Lee replied, "No, no. That is just the first win. I am waiting so much for that second win.”
Lee6 noted that she battled from behind in 2019 to claim her first LPGA win, “but this tournament I'm leading going into tomorrow,” she said. “So a little bit different. I'm going to [be] a little bit nervous.”
That doesn’t mean she’ll be straying from a game plan that put her in this position. “Just I'm going to play [tomorrow] the same as I did today. Just focus on the process, not results,” said Lee6, who understands that overemphasizing the outcome you want – winning a second major – will likely not get you the result you want.
But that doesn’t mean she isn’t thinking about what a victory would mean to her tomorrow.
“Yeah, I’m waiting so much on my second win,” she repeated. "If I win, I'll be very happy. Huge honor.”