Hee-young seizes lead at Manulife Classic

TORONTO (Canada): Park Hee-young, who is coming off a missed cut at the US Women’s Open, shot a 10-under 61 to take the lead in the third round of the Manulife Financial Classic.

South Korea’s Hee-young is at 20-under 193 and has a slim one-shot lead heading into Sunday’s final round of the LPGA Tour event at the Grey Silo Golf Course.

Hee-young is just the 11th player in LPGA history to shoot a 61.

“I didn’t realize it,” Hee-young said. “My long putting was pretty awesome. I just tried to trust it.”

American Angela Stanford, who is aiming for her sixth LPGA Tour win, remained in second place with a third-round 64.

Stanford is 19-under-par 194, one shot ahead of Scotland’s Catriona Matthew, who shot 68 and fell into third place at 18-under.

Meena Lee (65) is alone in fourth at 17-under, while Swede Anna Nordqvist (67) rounds out the top five at 15-under.

Gerina Piller, of the US, fired a 62 and vaulted into a tie for sixth at 14-under. She is level with South Korea’s Amy Yang (66) and American Austin Ernst (67).

World number one Park In-bee, the winner of the last three LPGA events, shot 68.

Hee-young, who also won the first three majors of 2013, is tied for ninth place with Norway’s Suzann Pettersen (68) at minus-13.

Hee-young has her work cut out for her if she is to win her fourth straight event.

“I had a lot of opportunities today but missed a lot of putts,” she said. — AFP