Golf roundup: Yealimi Noh charges into lead at AIG Women's Open
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It has been a trying 2026 LPGA campaign for 25-year old Yealimi Noh.
The six-year pro entered play this week at the AIG Women's Open in Lytham St. Annes, England, with three consecutive missed cuts, two of which were in major championships.
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Noh's fortunes have changed with a 2-under-par 69 in the third round of the Women's Open to lead the final major of the year at 7-under 206 through three rounds at Royal Lytham & St Annes Golf Club.
Noh carded rounds of 67 and 70 to open the tournament to sit just two shots off the pace set by South Korea's Haeryn Ryu. Her status looked bleak Saturday after taking a bogey 6 on the par-5 seventh hole to fall six shots off the pace of the fast-starting Ryu.
However, Noh made an unlikely birdie at the par-3 ninth hole, which was the start of three consecutive birdies for the one-time LPGA Tour winner. The San Francisco-area native added a birdie at 16 while charging into the lead.
Ryu cooled off and struggled to a 3-over 74 and plummeted into a five-way tie for second place at 4 under for the tournament.
"I don't know, golf is just crazy," Noh said about her turnaround from recent struggles. "It's been making me realize it more and more. It only takes one round for your whole mindset and whole game to change.
"Yeah, I had a really rough couple months. Not even just missing cuts, but just not playing good golf or rounds. And Thursday, I was just really happy to shoot under par and just really set me up for the week."
Ryu, who is seeking her third consecutive major this season, is tied in second place with Germany's Esther Henseleit, Thailand's Jeeno Thitikul, Japan's Shiho Kuwaki and Lucy Li.
Noh, who had 26 putts in her round, appeared to salvage the day with an early break.
"I had a little bit of a rough start, a couple bogeys on the front nine," she said. "Actually a chip-in par save on the second, which was nice. Yeah, I just fell out of tempo a little bit and then got it together for the back nine, and it was really solid. Had some good par saves."
Ryu got to 9 under with birdies at the third and fourth holes, then bogeyed six of her next 10 holes. After hitting 31-of-36 greens and converting 2-of-3 from the sand over the first 36 holes, Ryu stumbled to 11-of-18 and 0-of-2 respectively on Saturday.
She still will take a positive attitude into Sunday. Two major titles will do that.
"Before I got the major win and then always I'm doing like more pressure and want to more not good for my mindset," Ryu said. "But these days, after got two wins, I'm still calm because this is a major. Yeah, it's such a different (feeling than) before I got two wins."
Henseleit posted the best round of anyone in the top-7 with a 4-under 67.
She went out in 31 and only needed 26 putts on Saturday, knocking in several of considerable length.
"I mean, you have so many long putts so your speed has to be really good," Henseleit said. I feel like if there is a strength in my putting the speed control on the long ones is that, so I guess it kind of suits my game."
Li carded a 2-under 69, while Thitikul shot an even-par 72 and Kuwaki shot a 1-over 73.
The day's best round belonged to Japan's Ayaka Furue, who carded a 6-under 65. She moved up six spots and is tied for eighth place at 2-under 211.
World No. 1 Nelly Korda shot her second 1-over 73 of the week and is at 1 over for the tournament, tied for 16th place.
PGA Champions
Stewart Cink surged into a three-way tie for the Portugal Invitational lead on Saturday with an 8-under-par 64 that included a pair of eagles.
Cink eagled the par-5 third and par-4 12th holes at The Els Club Vilamoura in Algarve, Portugal, moving to 13 under through two rounds.
The eight-time winner on the PGA Tour Champions enters Sunday's final round level with Padraig Harrington of Ireland (65 on Saturday) and Slovakia's Rory Sabatini (66).
First-round leader Zach Johnson slipped into solo fourth place at 12-under after an eventful round of 68 with four birdies, one eagle and two bogeys.
Tim O'Neal surged into a tie for fifth place at 10-under with a bogey-free 66 to join Sweden's Mikael Lundberg (68). They are one stroke ahead of South Korea's Y.E. Yang (67) and Australia's Cameron Percy (67).
Cink started fast and was 6 under through five holes en route to the lowest round of the day.
"Well, it's weird to come off a round like that with that kind of score and be a little dejected because I shot minus-8, but I was 6-under par like 3 1/2 hours ago for the day," Cink said. "I settled back into normalcy after that.
"The start was just like laser focused. I mean, it was almost perfect shot after perfect shot for the first really six holes. I didn't birdie the sixth hole, but, you know, par-3, including an eagle from short range and another almost eagle on the par-5. Just really kind of fun. Then came back down to earth a little bit and got, like I said, a little bit more normal. All in all, a really good day."
Cink, who leads the Charles Schwab Cup standings, is looking for his fifth victory on the tour this season.
Harrington began his bogey-free, 7-under round with an eagle at the par-5 opening hole. He capped the round with his fifth birdie at No. 18.
"I'm obviously very happy to have birdied the last," Harrington said. "Hit a very nice second shot, hit a very nice putt. In golf you get some great breaks. Mikael Lundberg putted it pretty much on the same line before me. I thought the putt had a little bit of break and Michael's broke a lot … (otherwise) I would never have holed mine. You get good breaks like that at times in golf and it's nice I took advantage of it."
Sabbatini eagled the par-5 third hole but squandered his chance for the outright lead with a bogey at the par-3 17th.
"All things considered, I think that score today with the wind, the greens were getting a little firmer, faster at the end there, I'm pretty excited about it," Sabbatini said.
This is the first PGA Tour Champions event ever held in Portugal.
This article originally appeared on The Detroit News: Golf roundup: Yealimi Noh charges into lead at AIG Women's Open