LPGA: Lewis, Choi endure lengthy delay to share lead
No. 2-ranked Na Yeon Choi shot a third-round 67 on Saturday to catch Stacy Lewis atop the leaderboard at 14-under entering the final round of the HSBC Women's Champions event in Singapore.
Paula Creamer, who wasn't sure she'd even be able to play this week after suffering whiplash in a car accident Sunday night, sits two shots back at 14-under.
Lewis entered Saturday with a two-shot lead, but that quickly evaporated with bogies on two of her first three holes. Choi opened with back-to-back birdies to take a two-shot lede, but Lewis reeled her back in with a string of three birdies to close out the front nine.
The lead would change hands twice on the back nine, and Lewis held a one-shot lead when play was suspended for more than two hours due to lightening in the area. Lewis and Choi were playing in the final group - the only one still on the course at the time, and Choi came out of the delay to birdie the 18th hole.
Lewis was admittedly frustrated by the slow pace of play that had them still on the course when the inclement weather arrived.
"We waited all day, the pace of play was not very good, and it's frustrating," she said. "Probably three fast players are in the back there, and we had to sit there and wait. It is what it is and luckily we got finished today."
Lewis and Choi will tee it up in the final group Sunday both seeking their first victory of 2013.
"We are both playing really well and she played well again today," said Lewis. "It's going to be tight tomorrow and we are going to have to make some putts. But she's great and it will be fun to play with her."
That Creamer is in contention is one of the biggest stories of the week. She didn't play a practice round this week and said she was still in significant pain when the tournament started. After a shaky front nine Saturday, Creamer birdied three straight holes to open the back nine.
"I'm just so pleased to be out here, and let alone to be in contention on Sunday," she said. "That's just beyond my imagination of what I thought even teeing it up on Thursday. It is what it is. I'm just going to go out and try to smile as much as I can and enjoy the great game of golf that we play. And sometimes you have to kind of get a little riled up and you feel those kind of emotions again."
Danielle Kang, Ariya Jutanugarn and first-round leader Azahara Munoz are five shots off the lead at 9-under.
Choi's 67 was the low round of the day, with players struggling to find birdies as Lewis said many of the pins were difficult to get close to. World No. 1 Yani Tseng is in a tie for 19th place at 4-under after posting a third-round 71 on the Serapong Course at the Sentosa Golf Club.
