Jiyai expands lead; Rosales stumbles

ROCHESTER, New York – Jiyai Shin shot a 5-under 67 to extend her lead to four strokes at the Wegmans LPGA on Saturday.

The South Korean star, seeking her fifth tour win in 11 months, moved to 16-under 200 after three rounds at Locust Hill course in suburban Rochester.

“On the front nine, I lost my confidence,” Shin, 21, said of a slow start. “I tried eating. Eat some bread on No. 10 and then I made birdie.”

Morgan Pressel, a two-time winner whose season-best finish was a tie for seventh in April, shot a 70 and was in second place at 12 under. That was one better than rookie Stacy Lewis, who also shot 70.

Cheyenne Woods, the niece of Tiger Woods, missed the cut by four strokes in her professional golf debut. Woods and 70 other players completed their second rounds early Saturday after play was interrupted by thunderstorms on Friday. Defending champion Ji Eun-hee could manage only a 71 and crashed out with a 7-over total.

After back-to-back 69s, Jenny Rosales stumbled with a two over par 74, losing ground in her bid for a top 10 finish on the tour.

The ace Filipino shotmaker, who started the round in joint seventh, bogeyed two of the last seven holes, including the par-5 17th, as she finished with a 36-38 card for a three-day total of four-under 212.

That dropped her to 21st place, 12 shots off the pace, in the company of Karen Stupples, who had a 71, and Michelle Wie, who fumbled with a 75.

In 2008, Shin became the first non-US LPGA member to win three events. A multiple winner on the Korean Tour, she reeled in the Women’s British Open last August, then followed with late-season wins in the Mizuno Classic and ADT Championship. In March, she captured the HSBC Women’s Champions in Singapore for her first victory as a US tour member.

Shin rolled in a 20-foot birdie putt on No. 1, but she failed to reach the par-4 sixth in two and missed a 6-foot par putt for her only bogey. – With AP