TAIPEI, Taiwan – Defending champion Nelly Korda birdied the first hole of a three-way playoff on Sunday to win the LPGA Swinging Skirts.

Korda and Minjee Lee both birdied the final hole of regulation to finish at 18-under 270 and force a playoff with Caroline Masson, who shot a 68.

Korda, who started the final round with a three-stroke lead over Lee (69), looked set to win in regulation after a birdie on the par-5 No. 12 gave her a three-shot lead. But she bogeyed three of her final five holes to fall one stroke back of Masson before a birdie on 18 gave her even-par 72.

“It just gets away from you so fast,” Korda said. “And Caroline made a couple putts and she was one ahead of me on 17. I was like, geez, I have to make a birdie here.”

Masson took the lead after back-to-back birdies on Nos. 15 and 16 but closed with par on the final two holes.

“I did have a couple chances to get maybe two ahead on 17 and make birdie on 18, and didn’t use them, but I think overall, I just hung with them all day,” Masson said. “Super proud of the way we played and battled.”

In the playoff on the par-5 18th, Korda was the only one to find the fairway and hit a perfect second shot to set up an eagle chance. She left the eagle putt short, but a birdie was enough for her to win her third career LPGA title.

With her second win of the year, Korda is the first American with multiple wins in the 2019 season.

Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., shot a 68 to finish regulation tied for fourth, four strokes back with South Koreans Sei Young Kim and Mi Jung Hur.

Hamilton’s Alena Sharp tied for 49th.

Brooke Henderson added to her impressive collection of awards on Wednesday, receiving the inaugural People’s Choice Award from Canada’s Sports Hall of Fame.

The award was created to “Recognize future Hall of Famers who are a champion of their sport and a champion for their community.”

The 22-year-old from Smiths Falls, Ont., had another stellar campaign on the LPGA Tour, capturing her record ninth title at the Meijer LPGA Classic, becoming the winningest Canadian golfer in history on either the LPGA or PGA Tours.

Henderson is a strong advocate for charity and community involvement, playing a large role as an ambassador for Canadian Pacific and the CP Has Heart campaign. At the 2019 CP Women’s Open in Aurora, Ont., she helped celebrate raising $2.2 million for SickKids Foundation. She also participated in numerous clinics and charity outings throughout the year.

Her list of recognitions also include the Canadian Press Female Athlete of the Year in 2015, 2017 and 2018. She also took home the honours for 2019 ESPY award for Best Female Golfer.

Aaron Stewart was always around golf even when he wasn’t heavily invested. Now he’s involved in ways he never imagined.

Stewart, the son of late three-time major champion Payne Stewart, has been appointed tournament director of the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions in Orlando, Florida. The season opener on the LPGA Tour is Jan. 16-19 and features two events in one – 72 holes of stroke play for LPGA winners the last two seasons and celebrities competing in a Stableford format.

“I’m really excited to be with the tournament side of things, back in the golf industry,” Stewart said. “And I’m still with the company I grew up with.”

He is approaching the 20-year anniversary – Oct. 25, 1999 – of his father travelling to Texas when the jet lost cabin pressure and flew uncontrolled across the country until crashing in South Dakota. Stewart was the reigning U.S. Open champion. His son was 10.

“I didn’t play as much then. I was more into other sports,” Stewart said. “I’d always go out to the golf course, and I was around my dad when he was practicing. I was more into the golf cart, driving that around.”

He started playing seriously a few years later and decided if he was going to be good, he would have to put in the time. He went to SMU, his father’s alma mater, with every intention of trying to make it to the next level.

“I ended up going a different route,” Stewart said. “I didn’t have the desire to play professionally. I was a little burned out, to be honest.”

He returned home to Orlando and worked for the Tavistock Group and then was hired by Diamond Resorts through an intensive training program. This job was more about marketing, taking him to Las Vegas and California. He married and took a year off to travel, returned to Diamond Resorts in March as part of the sports marketing team involved in the Tournament of Champions and was elevated last month to executive director.

It was a different path, much like the LPGA Tour event he now runs.

The tournament began as a one-day charity event for Brian Gay, geared toward raising money toward health causes. It became an unofficial event for the PGA Tour Champions, and now it offers a unique blend of LPGA winners and celebrities, along with giving the LPGA Tour a winners-only event it had been lacking.

Eun-Hee Ji won the inaugural event, with former Atlanta Braves pitcher John Smoltz winning the celebrity side.

Stewart always remained connected to tour golf in some capacity. The Payne Stewart Award has become one of the most significant honours on the PGA Tour, and Stewart goes to Atlanta every year for the televised ceremony during the Tour Championship.

He was in Las Vegas last week and got together with Jim Furyk, who played in the 1999 Ryder Cup with his father and won the Payne Stewart Award.

Now it’s about running a season opener for the LPGA Tour.

“It makes each week really exciting for us to see if we’ll have a new person on the roster,” Stewart said Monday, one day after Cheyenne Knight won her first LPGA Tour event to qualify for the season opener. “It’s a great transition into the season. We’re thrilled to be in that position.”

PRESIDENTS CUP

Four tournaments into the PGA Tour season are enough to raise questions about captain’s picks for the Presidents Cup – Joaquin Niemann of Chile winning big at the Greenbrier, and Kevin Na winning at Las Vegas for his second victory in five months.

Na said he was hopeful of a text from U.S. captain Tiger Woods about his Vegas win in a playoff.

“If not, I’m going to be texting him.” Na said.

He still is somewhat of a long shot. Na was No. 22 in the standings. Woods has four picks, and among those well ahead of Na were Match Play winner Kevin Kisner, U.S. Open champion Gary Woodland, Northern Trust winner Patrick Reed, along with Rickie Fowler and yes, Masters champion Woods.

Na says injuries limited him to only 19 starts – he has played at least 26 times each of the last five years – and he missed the second FedEx Cup playoff event to be home for the birth of his son.

“I was a little behind on the points, but I got two wins in this calendar year,” Na said. “So hopefully, he’s keeping an eye on me. I could make some putts. I’m a good match play player. I keep trying to sell myself. Hopefully, he considers me.”

Woods and International captain Ernie Els make their selections after the HSBC Champions ends on Nov. 3.

LPGA CARDS

The LPGA Tour takes a week off before heading to Asia for a month of limited field, no-cut events in which only players who earn spots in the fields – no sponsor exemptions – can earn points toward trying to be among the top 60 reaching the season-ending CME Globe Tour Championship.

The final full-field event in Texas proved plenty big. Cheyenne Knight won for the first time and moved to No. 65 on the money list, which will get her into Asia events. For others, it was a matter of keeping their cards. Stephanie Meadow made an 18-foot birdie on the last hole that was just enough to finish No. 99 on the money list.

The top 80 effectively have full cards and top 100 have status secured without having to go the Q-Series, consecutive 72-hole events at the end of October for players from Nos. 101-150, and for Nos. 11-35 on the Symetra Tour money list.

Among those who avoided a return to the Q-Series was Maria Fassi of Mexico, largely based on her pro debut.

She tied for 12th at the U.S. Women’s Open, which has the largest purse among the majors. Fassi made 80% of her money from one event with $103,065. She made $26,099 from three other tournaments and had a stretch of seven straight missed cuts.

Fassi, along with Jennifer Kupcho, went through the Q-Series last year, earned cards, deferred their memberships so they could finish college and didn’t start until June. Kupcho had two big weeks. While she missed five of her last six cuts, she tied for second in a major at the Evian Championship and tied for fifth at the Marathon Classic. She is eligible for the Asia swing but goes into them at No. 64 in the Race to CME Globe.

FITNESS FREAK

It would be simple enough for Bryson DeChambeau to say he’s going to spend time in the gym over the next month.

Only it’s never that simple with DeChambeau.

The objective is to get stronger, and he says that means he will probably look bigger. And he says he’s going to have fun doing it through muscle activation techniques.

“We make sure the neurological threshold is just as high as the mechanical threshold,” DeChambeau said. “In layman’s terms, pretty much whatever muscle potentially you have, how big and the muscle spindles you have, making you recruit every single one of them to their full potential throughout the whole range, and training the whole range of motion.”

DeChambeau calls it “revolutionary in the physical therapy world.”

“I’m looking forward to an incredible off-season of getting really strong and really stable,” he said.

DISTANCE CHASER

Pat Perez is the latest on the list of players who went chasing power only to find their games got weaker. He also is the latest to figure out that what he had was good enough to win on the PGA Tour and reach as high as No. 16 in the world.

Perez returned from shoulder surgery to win twice in 26 starts, finally reaping the rewards of being among the top players in the world ranking – the Masters, no U.S. Open qualifying for the first time and more than $7 million over two seasons.

And then he wanted to get better, which meant trying to get longer.

“I played for three years one way and I made a lot of money, won twice, do all these things,” Perez said. “And then I went away from it to try to get longer. It just hurt my game, so I went back to the drawing board.”

He finished third in Las Vegas, his best finish since he won in Malaysia two years ago. It moved his world ranking from No. 183 to No. 120.

DIVOTS

Dustin Johnson plans to defend his title in the Saudi International next January. The tournament also confirmed that world No. 1 Brooks Koepka will return. … Phil Mickelson now has gone 18 consecutive starts without a top-10 finish since winning at Pebble Beach in February. … The 2022 Ryder Cup in Italy will end on Oct. 2, the third time since 2010 the matches end in October. The others were Wales in 2010 and Hazeltine in 2016. … Ian Baker-Finch will captain the Australians in the Olympics for the second time. Three Aussies currently are in the top 25 in the world – Adam Scott, Marc Leishman and Jason Day, none of whom was in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.

STAT OF THE WEEK

Jon Rahm has finished in the top five in 10 of his 14 regular European Tour events, including five victories.

FINAL WORD

“Putter got hot this week – tends to do that sometimes. And when it does, if I’m hitting it halfway decent, I feel like I can win.” – Kevin Na, after making 559 feet of putts over four rounds in his victory at Las Vegas.

THE COLONY, Texas – Cheyenne Knight struggled so much her rookie season that she made the cut in only half of her tournaments and figured she was headed back to the LPGA Tour qualifying series. One week changed everything.

In the only LPGA event in her home state of Texas, in what she thought would be her last tournament of the year, Knight played bogey-free Sunday and closed with a 5-under 66 for a two-shot victory in the Volunteers of America Classic.

Her first victory on the LPGA Tour comes with a two-year exemption and makes her eligible for the Asia swing. At No. 49 in the Race to CME Globe standings, she is virtually assured of getting to the Tour Championship next month.

“It’s so incredible. I can’t put it into words,” Knight said.

The 22-year-old was in tears even before players rushed onto the 18th green at Old American Golf Club and sprayed her with champagne and water. Knight had pointed to his tournament, which she played as an amateur, all season. She grew up about an hour away in Aledo. And she never plays without thinking of her brother, Brandon, who died in a car accident when Knight was 12.

She dropped her putter and pointed to the sky when her 2-foot par putt dropped to finish at 18-under 266, two shots ahead of Brittany Altomare (67) and Jaye Marie Green (69), both trying for their first LPGA title.

“I think I had a second caddie. I know he’s watching in heaven, and he’s so proud of me,” Knight said. “This is for Brandon.”

Altomare, who played in her first Solheim Cup last month, got up-and-down from just short of the 17th green for birdie to briefly tie for the lead. Knight, playing in the group behind, holed a 15-foot birdie putt to regain the lead.

Needing birdie to have any chance, Altomare gunned her putt about 6 feet and missed the next one, taking bogey to clear the way for Knight.

“I keep saying this, but I think the more I put myself in those situations, eventually, statistically, I feel like it has to happen,” Altomare said.

Green began the final round with the lead and still was one shot ahead through 10 holes until she bogeyed the 11th and 12th and never caught up. With a runner-up finish, Green moved to No. 48 in the Race to CME Globe and will be eligible for Asia event, which do not have cuts.

Georgia Hall (66) and Jane Park (68) tied for fourth.

Knight had not finished better than a tie for 29th in the 54-hole event in Arkansas going into the Texas event, the final full field of the year.

“I said when I got my card this was the event I was most looking forward to,” said Knight, who tied for 29th three years ago when she played as an amateur. “Who would have thought this would help me secure my card. I thought I was going back to Q-school. To win this means everything, knowing I can persevere.”

Stephanie Meadow of Northern Ireland, who was No. 112 on the money list, made an 18-foot birdie putt on the final hole to keep her card by moving into the top 100 and avoid returning to the LPGA Q-Series at the end of the year.

Meadow closed with a 67 and tied for sixth with Katherine Perry, who also needed a birdie on the final hole to keep her card. Perry missed from 15 feet and will finish outside the top 100 on the money list.

Alena Sharp (72) of Hamilton was 7 under to finish it a tie for 14th place. Brooke Henderson (69) of Smits Falls, Ont., was 5 under in a tie for 16th.

THE COLONY, Texas – Canada’s Alena Sharp shot a 6-under 65 on Friday for a share of the second-round lead with Brittany Altomare and Cheyenne Knight in the LPGA Tour’s Volunteers of America Classic.

Sharp closed with a bogey on the par-4 18th to drop into the tie for the lead at 9-under 133 at Old American Golf Club. Altomare had a 66, and Knight shot 67. The three leaders are winless on the LPGA Tour.

Knight was a two-time state high school champion at Aledo, just west of Fort Worth.

First-round leader Stephanie Meadow was 8 under, following her opening 63 with a 71.

Jaye Marie Green and Katherine Perry each shot 68 to reach 7 under.

Ariya Jutanugarn was 6 under after her second straight 68. The 10-time tour winner missed the cut last week in Indianapolis, ending her streak of 56 starts on the tour without missing a cut.

Georgia Hall (68) also was 6 under with Caroline Hedwall (67), Jane Park (67) and Wei-Ling Hsu (68).

GLENEAGLES, Scotland – Suzann Pettersen stood over the final shot of her golfing career, not quite realizing it also was the last shot of the most dramatic Solheim Cup ever played.

Europe’s players had their hands over their mouths, and their captain could barely watch. Blissfully unaware of what was unfolding was 1-year-old Herman, Pettersen’s first child who was also among the thousands around the 18th green at Gleneagles.

The putt was from 7 feet, slightly left to right, and it never looked like missing.

After being mobbed by her teammates on the 18th green, an emotional Pettersen held Herman in her arms and kissed him. The Europeans had regained the Solheim Cup and one of the stalwarts of women’s golf had her perfect ending.

“Yeah, this is it. I’m completely done,” said the 38-year-old Pettersen, confirming her sudden decision to retire. “It doesn’t get any better.”

On an afternoon of singles matches that pretty much had everything, Europe secured a 14 1/2-13 1/2 win over the United States to claim the biggest team prize in female golf for the first time since 2013.

The final act, spread over two holes with virtually simultaneous putts, could not have been more thrilling.

Just as Pettersen was addressing her putt at No. 18, U.S. player Ally McDonald slid a putt to the right of the hole at No. 17 and walked up to Bronte Law to concede the match in favour of the Europeans.

The score changed to 13 1/2-13 1/2 and – without her even realizing – the outcome of the contest hinged on Pettersen.

“I thought Bronte was in behind me on the (18th) fairway,” Pettersen said. “I actually didn’t know that it was THE putt.”

That it was Pettersen who secured the winning point felt apt.

She was a contentious wild-card pick by European captain Catriona Matthew because Pettersen had played just two tournaments – missing the cut in both – since November 2017. She had time off before and after giving birth to Herman, and then because of injury.

Pettersen also had a score to settle with the Solheim Cup. In her most recent appearance, at St. Leon-Rot in Germany in 2015, she refused to concede a short putt to Alison Lee on the 17th hole of a tight fourballs match before the singles on the final day. There were angry exchanges, and it stoked a fire inside the Americans as they fought back from 10-6 down going into the singles to win 14 1/2-13 1/2.

Pettersen later apologized.

“She gone from villain to hero,” said Laura Davies, one of the European vice captains.

Pettersen’s redemption story was delivered in Scotland, the home of golf, where the U.S. team hasn’t now won in three attempts. Playing in her ninth Solheim Cup, Pettersen won two of her three matches and is now a four-time Solheim Cup winner.

The day started with the teams locked at 8-8 after four sessions, and the first definitive break of the entire contest happened when the Americans took the lead for the first time since Friday lunchtime, at 12-11.

At 13 1/2-11 1/2, they needed just a half-point from the final three singles matches out on the course to guarantee retaining the cup, but then came the European fightback.

Anna Nordqvist completed a 4-and-3 win over Morgan Pressel. Then, on No. 17, Law sealed a 2-and-1 win over McDonald to tie the score. Pettersen delivered for Europe on No. 18, but only after her opponent, Marina Alex, slid a 10-foot birdie putt wide that, if it had found the hole, would have been enough for the U.S.

“I told them afterward, the sun’s going to come up tomorrow,” said U.S. captain Juli Inkster, when asked what she’d said to her players. “It was great for women’s golf. We played great.

“But you know what, the Europeans played great. You tip your hat. And you move on to Toledo.”

Inkster won’t be there in 2021, confirming afterward that she will not be captain for a fourth straight match. She finishes with two victories from three Solheim Cups as captain.

Two of the Americans, in particular, will still look back on the week with fond memories despite the loss. Jessica and Nelly Korda, the first sisters to play together in the fourballs or foursomes at the Solheim Cup, both finished with 3 1/2 points from four matches after coming from behind to win in the singles.

Nelly Korda, out in Match 2, was 3 down after nine holes against Caroline Hedwall but won 2 up. Jessica Korda, who at age 26 is five years older than her sister, beat Caroline Masson 3 and 2 after being 2 down.

Other key interventions for the U.S. in the singles came from Megan Khang, who birdied No. 18 to claim a half-point against Charley Hull, and Lizette Salas, who parred the last for a 1-up win over Anne van Dam.

But Europe, which had a historically inferior record in singles, managed to win the session 6 1/2-5 1/2 after victories in three of the first matches to finish – including Georgia Hall taking down world No. 3 Lexi Thompson 2 and 1 – and then those last three matches.

Hall and Celine Boutier, a 2-and-1 winner over Annie Park, both won all four of their matches.

Thompson, the highest-ranked player at Gleneagles, collected just two half-points from four matches.

Matthew, carried shoulder-high by her players on the 18th green, celebrated victory in her home country.

And Pettersen closed her career with 21 points in the Solheim Cup, the Norwegian described by Matthew as “one of the trailblazers in women’s golf.”

“Coming down No. 18, Beany (Matthew) said, ‘It’s why I picked you,”’ Pettersen said. “In your wildest dreams, especially where I’ve come from, I never thought I was going to do this again.”

PORTLAND, Ore. – Australia’s Hannah Green overcame a three-shot deficit with a final round 5-under 67 Sunday to win the Portland Classic and deny teenager Yealimi Noh’s bid to become the third Monday qualifier to win on the LPGA Tour.

Green erased a three-shot deficit with two birdies over the final four holes at Columbia Edgewater Country Club. She finished at 21 under and won for the second time this season. She claimed the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship in June.

The 22-year-old Green, one of five two-time winners on tour this year, said she relied on her experience in winning her first major earlier this summer.

“I think I can definitely say that KPMG, having that experience, definitely helped me, especially the last five holes,” Green said. “Grinding out and making sure that I stayed patient.”

The 18-year-old Noh, who turned down an offer to play for UCLA and instead went pro in February, led by three strokes entering the final round and held the same margin after 14 holes. But, she struggled down the stretch and settled for a final-round 71 and 20 under.

Down three strokes after Noh made a birdie at the 14th, Green knew she needed to make a move.

“I guess that’s when you really need to hang in there,” Green said. “I was just really happy that I was hitting fairways and greens, like giving myself some opportunities. … I had some bad strokes out there and completely missed the hole, but when I was holing putts, you know, they are in the middle, so I was really happy about that. ”

Green closed within two strokes with a birdie at the 15th and was within one after Noh made bogey at No. 16. Green forged a tie at 21 under with a clutch birdie putt at the 17th.

“I felt like I was reading greens really well all day but towards the end, I wasn’t sure if I was over-reading them, so I had my caddie – I told him what point I was looking at, and I asked whether, what his opinion was and whether he thinks it was too much or too less,” Green said. “I think just hearing that confirmation to say, yeah, that’s the right line, is just what I needed. Especially on the putt on 17.”

Green made par on the 72nd hole and Noh, after hitting her second shot over the green and sending her third a good distance past the hole, made bogey.

“It was all going good till 16 I think, just the last two bogeys on 16, and 18, really hurts, because I was playing OK up until that,” Noh said. “I really thought I could hang in there, but just made a couple mistakes.

Noh was playing in her seventh tour event this year, with her best finish a tie for sixth at the Thornberry Creek Classic in early July. She was trying to join Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., who won the 2015 Portland Classic, and Laurel Kean, a winner at the State Farm LPGA Classic in 2000, as the only qualifiers to win in LPGA history.

Brittany Altomoare carded a 69 and finished third at 17 under. Henderson (71) and Nasa Hataoka (66) tied for fourth at 15 under.

NORTH BERWICK, Scotland – Mi Jung Hur surged into a two-shot lead Friday in the rain-delayed second round of the Ladies Scottish Open, getting the best of the draw and finishing in the early evening with a 9-under 62.

Alena Sharp (Hamilton, Ont.) is in a tie for 14th at 5 under par, having completed her second round before the delay.

Players with morning tee times dealt with heavy wind and rain at The Renaissance Club, and play was suspended in the early afternoon, delaying the start times for half of the field and giving them a huge advantage as the sun came out and the wind died. The second round could not be completed Friday because of darkness.

Hur, who started on No. 10, made only one par over her first 12 holes. The South Korean began with two birdies and then holed a 25-yard pitch-and-run from the rough for eagle on the par-5 12th. She made six more birdies, along with two bogeys, over her next nine, and added one more birdie to post a two-day total of 14-under 128.

“I got a really lucky draw for this week. I had the morning yesterday and afternoon today,” Hur said. “I know it was really tough this morning, but sometimes I need luck for those things.”

None of the players who started in the morning was inside the top 20.

Moriya Jutanugarn was 12 under after a 66. Sharing third at 10 under were U.S. Women’s Open champion Jeongeun Lee6 (65) and Anne van Dam, who followed her opening-round 63 with a 69.

“I think if we get decent weather, low scores are out there,” van Dam said. “If it will get rainy and more windy, maybe two rounds around par will be fine. So I have no clue.”

Muni He was 9 under with three holes to play, the best score among those who did not finish.

Former U.S. Women’s Open champion Na Yeon Choi, who has struggled with back injuries for the past four years, was 6 under after a 64. She tied for third in her previous tournament, the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational, her best finish since 2016.

Laura Davies matched the best round of the morning wave with a 68. The 55-year-old Hall of Famer aced the 152-yard fifth hole, her 12th career hole-in-one.

“Lovely wedge, never left the pin,” Davies said. “It seemed to roll for ages and just dropped in.”

Only two of the 78 players with morning tee times broke 70.

“It’s probably the second-best round I’ve probably ever shot because obviously needed to have a good round to make the cut,” said Davies, who opened with a 72 and was 2 under. “I had a 6-under 66 in Canada years ago in similar conditions, but that’s as close as I can get to it. It was horrific out there. … I hit two 1-irons into the fourth, 1-iron off the tee and 1-iron into the green. I’ve never done that before.”

It was Davies’ first made cut in 11 LPGA Tour starts this year. She has been working part-time as a TV commentator and joined the Sky Sports broadcast booth after her round on Friday.

“People say, ‘Oh, should you give up and commentate, you’re a rubbish golfer now,’ but I still know I can hit shots and play like that,” Davies said. “I’ve just got to do it and prove it, and that’s the only thing. But you can only prove to yourself if you hit the good shots.”

Full scoring can be found here.

MILTON KEYNES, England – Hinako Shibuno of Japan finished with a birdie to win the Women’s British Open by one shot over Lizette Salas as she wrapped up a stunning major championship debut on Sunday.

The 20-year-old Shibuno, a rookie on the Japan LPGA Tour who was making her LPGA Tour debut, birdied five of the final nine holes in a 4-under 68 and 18-under 270 overall.

Largely unknown before the championship, Shibuno – nicknamed “Smiling Cinderella” – started Sunday with a two-stroke lead but lost it with a double bogey on the par-4 3rd. She bounced back with birdies on Nos. 5 and 7 before a bogey on the 8th at Woburn Golf Club.

But in three of four rounds, Shibuno has shone on the back nine. She did it in 31 on Sunday – and just 30 on Thursday and Saturday.

“She just gets up and rips it. She did really great,” rival Ashleigh Buhai said about Shibuno.

Brooke Henderson (72) of Smiths Falls, Ont., tied for 41st.

Salas, who started the final round tied for fourth, quickly played herself into contention with three birdies in the first four holes, and she added five more in a 7-under 65.

But the American will regret not taking another birdie chance on the 18th when she shared the lead with Shibuno.

“I told myself, ‘You got this. You’re made for this.’ I put a good stroke on it. I’m not going to lie, I was nervous,” Salas said after her best finish at a major. “You know, I haven’t been in that position in a long time. Gave it a good stroke. I controlled all my thoughts. It just didn’t drop.”

Jin Young Ko, who was seeking her third major title of the year after winning the Evian Championship last week, was two shots back in third after a bogey-free 66.

“I had a little pressure, but I like that pressure,” Ko said.

Morgan Pressel (67) finished fourth at 15 under, just ahead of Buhai (70), whose hopes were dented Saturday when she let a five-shot lead slip. The 30-year-old South African finished fifth at 14 under.

“If you had given me a top five at the beginning of the week, I most certainly would have taken it,” Buhai said.

Also, Celine Boutier shot a 66 to finish the tournament at 12 under, followed by Carlota Ciganda (70) at 11 under and second-ranked Sung Hyun Park (73) at 10 under.

American Nelly Korda (68) tied for ninth with Jeongeun Lee (71) at 9 under, two shots ahead of Lexi Thompson (67).

Defending champion Georgia Hall (73) tied for 35th.

Full results can be found here.

MILTON KEYNES, England – Hinako Shibuno’s dream debut continued Saturday as she fired a 5-under 67 to seize a two-shot lead going into the final round at the Women’s British Open.

The 20-year-old Shibuno, a rookie on the Japan LPGA Tour who is making her LPGA Tour and major championship debut, hit six birdies in the final nine holes of the third round for a 14-under 202.

Overnight leader Ashleigh Buhai (72) started with a three-shot lead at Woburn Golf Club and stretched it to five as Shibuno had bogeys on Nos. 5 and 9. But with Sung Hyun Park also closing in, Buhai stumbled with three bogeys in five holes. The 30-year-old South African, who has never won on the LPGA Tour, dropped to second at 12 under.

Second-ranked Park was a shot further back in third after a bogey-free 68.

Americans Morgan Pressel and Lizette Salas, and top-ranked Jin Young Ko, were tied for fourth on 10 under. Ko (68) is seeking her third major title of the year after winning last week’s Evian Championship in France.

Pressel birdied eight holes on her way to a 66, while Salas (70) had two bogeys in her opening nine.

Defending champion Georgia Hall was 10 shots back after a 74.

Canada’s Brooke Henderson (74) was tied for 37th.