SHANGHAI, Oct. 30 (Xinhuanet) – Liu Wenbo took full control of the Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Championship on Saturday when the Chinese LPGA Order of Merit leader took a three-under-69 lead to a four-stroke Lead by three rounds to open the RMB 1 million championship.
The 20-year-old from Beijing was seven under 209 after 54 holes at Lanhai International Golf Club on Chongming Island.Zeng Liqi, a 15-year-old amateur, came second after shooting a straight par 72 over the Yangtze dunes. one stroke ahead of Shi Yuli (71). Sui Xiang (72), leader of the first round, was fourth, six strokes behind.
Liu started the day with a one-shot lead and got to work early to claim her third CLPGA Tour title when she made a birdie on 408-yard runner-up. She took another birdie on the seventh hole before dropping her only stroke of the round at 142 yards 14, where her tee shot found a bunker. Two more birdies would follow on the 15th and 17th holes.
“It’s a satisfactory score, 80 out of 100. I missed some birdie opportunities, but I had two impressive scramble shots from the rough to the second nine. It’s a round with no major mistakes,” said Liu, who made her first CLPGA Tour won titles in 2017 when she won the Zhangjiagang Shuangshan Challenge as a 16-year-old amateur.
“The rough is very tricky here. For the past two days I have been fortunate enough to hit my ball in the easier places around the rough where you can relax. If your ball is deep in the rough, you could go with one Expect a penalty or a lost ball. Four-shot lead is not that big for this course. As I said, there could be a lot of problems tomorrow. You have to avoid them and play another solid round. “
Zeng demonstrated why she is 79th in the World Amateur Golf Ranking when the native Nanchang reeled off three consecutive birdies, starting on the seventh hole, to sit one stroke behind play partner Liu through nine holes. The teenager was unable to use her swing, however, and had three bogeys on the next six holes. She took another birdie at the 467 yard, par 5 hole 17.
“I played well in the first nine and had three birdies in a row, but we were slow in the corner for some reason. The referee asked us to speed up and time us. I couldn’t find the right rhythm after that.” said the teenager.
“The four-shot lead (from Liu) is great, but I’ll try to ignore that and play my game.”
Shi, a 19-year-old pro from Beijing, carded three late birdies from the 14th hole but couldn’t even draw with Zeng when she stumbled to a bogey five on the final hole.
“I hit the rough unexpectedly on the last hole and thought I could easily hit over that area. My tees were a little worse than yesterday, but overall it was another solid day out there.”
Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Championship third round of top results (* denotes amateur)
209-Liu Wenbo 71-69-69
213-Zeng-Liqi * 72-69-72
214-Shi Yuli 72-71-71
215-Sui Xiang 70-73-72
219 – Lyu Tian 74-70-75
220-Zhang Yahui * 73-78-69, Zhang Yue 77-72-71
222-Li Dongmei 81-72-69
223-Pan Yanhong 77-76-70
224 – A pair of pliers * 71-78-75