Evian Masters -3rd Round

Angela Park maintained her one-shot lead through the third round of the Evian Masters. Candie Kung is in second place at -13, Juli Inkster is third at -11 and Helen Alfredsson is fourth at -10.

For the second day in a row, a closing stretch of birdies moved Park into the overnight lead. Today, she birdied the last three to reach -14. Kung bogeyed 16 but birdied the last two to get in at -13. Inkster reached -11 with a birdie at 15 but wasn’t able to keep pace with the two front-runners as she only parred the final three. Alfredsson was -11 after a birdie at 12 but she played the final six holes in +1. Meena Lee took a step back with a 73 – she’s at T11 -7. In-Kyung Kim ballooned to a 75, falling to T16 -5.

With Park posting 68, none of the other contenders besides Kung could make up any ground. Jin Joo Hong matched that 68 to move into a tie for seventh with Paula Creamer, Lorena Ochoa and Cristie Kerr but they are all six shots behind at -8. Shi Hyun Ahn and Na Yeon Choi are at -9 after rounds of 69. I think you can consider all of the players at -8 or better to have reasonable chances to win but the -8s and -9s will have to come out firing Sunday afternoon. I thought Angela Park had a good chance of getting her first win at last week’s State Farm Classic (she was a CYA pick). Maybe I was just one week early.