Choi retains Chrysler Championship lead
K.J. Choi made a 10-foot birdie putt on the 18th hole Saturday to finish the third round of the Chrysler Championship in Palm Harbor, Fla., the same way he started, with a one-shot lead over Ernie Els and two others.
In a blustery round in which six players had at least a share of the lead, Choi overcame a few hiccups on the Copperhead course at Innisbrook for a 1-under-par 70 that left him one shot clear of Els (70), Brian Gay (70) and resurgent Paul Goydos (69), who was No. 160 on the money list and now has a chance to avoid Q-school.
Choi never made more than three pars in a row, and that was on the back nine when he was trying to hang on.
He was at 9-under 204 and will try to win the Chrysler Championship tournament for the second time in five years.
Champions Tour
Jim Thorpe stayed steady while the other contenders lurched up and down the leaderboard in Sonoma, Calif., finishing the third round of the Charles Schwab Cup Championship with a two-stroke lead over Jay Haas, Tom Kite and Loren Roberts.
Thorpe parlayed four straight birdies after the turn into a 5-under 67, leaving him two shots ahead of second-round leader Kite – as well as Haas and Roberts, the Champions Tour’s top two players throughout the season.
All four contenders still are in prime position to claim the $440,000 first prize in the season-ending event.
LPGA
Jin Joo Hong, a South Korean playing in her first LPGA Tour event, shot a 5-under 67 in Gyeongju, South Korea, to take a four-stroke lead after the second round of the Kolon-Hana Bank Championship.
Hong, who has won a tournament on the Korean tour, had six birdies and one bogey for a 9-under 135 total on the Mauna Ocean Golf Club.
Sharing second at 139 were two South Koreans – first-round leader Joo Mi Kim (73) and Mi Jung Hur (70) – and France’s Karine Icher (71).
U.S. Solheim Cup star Paula Creamer shot a 72 and was tied at 140 with Jeong Jang of South Korea (72), Suzann Pettersen of Norway (71) and defending champion Jee Young Lee of South Korea (73).
Hong is trying to become the fifth South Korean in five years to win the country’s only LPGA-sanctioned tournament.