POND: AMERICAN KERR SHOWS FEISTY - YET BITTER - SIDE WITH QUOTE ABOUT LEADER SEO TO MEDIA

CRISTIE KERR

"The tournament is not decided yet. I think she's over there celebrating. We all have a chance. I'm going to go out and swing for the fences and hopefully tie it up."
- Cristie Kerr, talking about leader Hee Kyung Seo after seeing her hug friends and family following the South Korean star's back-to-back rounds of 68 to put her in the clubhouse lead.


I would probably be mad and frustrated as well if I was Kerr, the world's top player American and two-time major champion. Finishing in the top four in six of the past eight tournaments, including three runner-up finishes, will do that to someone.

TSENG STRETCHES LEAD AT LPGA CHAMPIONSHIP

YANI TSENG

PITTSFORD, N.Y. - Yani Tseng extended her lead at the LPGA Championship on Saturday, putting the 22-year-old star a round away from winning her fourth major title.

The top-ranked Tseng shot a 5-under 67 to extend her lead to five strokes at 13-under 203 after the third round at Locust Hill Country Club outside Rochester.

American Morgan Pressel (70) and Cindy LaCrosse (69) were tied for second, and Hee Young Park (72) was seven shots behind Tseng. Defending champion Cristie Kerr matched Tseng with a third-round best 67 to join Stacy Lewis (70), Meena Lee (70) and Paula Creamer at 5 under.

Tseng, who turned 22 in January, was a round away from becoming the youngest to win four major golf tournaments. She also won LPGA Championship during her rookie-of-the-year season in 2008, when the event was played at Bulle Rock in Maryland, and took the Kraft Nabisco and Women's British Open last year.

Tiger Woods and Se Ri Pak were 24 when they won their fourth majors.

Tseng has seven career LPGA Tour wins, and has already won twice this year, including the State Farm Classic two weeks ago. She also has three international victories this year, sweeping the Women's Australian Open and Australian Ladies Masters.

She also finished second at the Kraft Nabisco Championship in April, losing to Lewis after taking a two-shot lead into the final round. It was a tournament in which Tseng might have jinxed herself by grabbing the championship trophy as she stepped to the first tee upon opening the final round.

Acknowledging that she's learned her lesson, Tseng joked that she has no intention of coming anywhere near the LPGA trophy before the final round is over Sunday.

There was little she did wrong Saturday, in a round played under overcast conditions for much of the afternoon. Intermittent rain over the past couple days softened the greens, but the wind picked up in the afternoon making it difficult to navigate the tight fairways and reach the small greens.

A day after she twice missed from within 3 feet, including an 18-incher for bogey on No. 18, Tseng was more consistent with her putting.

On Saturday, she sank a 6-foot putt for birdie on No. 9, and then scrambled to save par with a pair of 4-footers on Nos. 10 and 11. Then came a 7-foot birdie putt on the par-4 12th and a 14-footer on No. 13 to go to 12 under for the tournament, and extend her lead by five shots at that time.

Her only real miscue was an errant tee-shot into the left rough on No. 14 that led to a bogey 5. Tseng responded on the next hole, with a 4-foot putt for birdie. She also birdied Nos. 2 and 15 and 17.
No one else could make up any ground.

LaCrosse scrambled to shoot 3 under in a round that featured six birdies and three bogeys. In her second year on tour, her best career finish was a tie for 11th at the Shop Rite Classic three weeks ago.

At Louisville, she was a two-time Big East champion. And she also won three times on the Futures Tour.

"My game plan's kind of the same. I'm still trying to hit the fairways and greens," said LaCrosse, who will be paired with Tseng in the final round. "You never know what (Tseng) is going to do. She's an amazing player. I just kind of have to focus on what I'm going to do."

Pressel is still in the hunt in seeking her third career win and first since 2008.

Kerr appeared to finally shake off the flu bug that was bothering her this week.

Making the turn at 1 under on Saturday, she birdied four of her final nine holes, including 17 and 18.

"I scrambled my rear off," Kerr said of her first nine, which included 15-foot par-saving putt on the par-3 fifth hole. "I'm just proud of myself for the way I hung in there today and gave myself a chance to shoot a good score to get back in it."

Kerr isn't counting herself out after she ran away with the tournament last year in finishing with a 19-under 269 to win by a whopping 12 strokes.

"I think I will be within striking distance, but I would have to put up another round like this tomorrow," she said. "If I can hit a lot of greens, then I'll have a chance."

Pat Hurst, who opened the day in second, shot a 75 to drop into a tie for ninth.

- Story by The Associated Press/Photo courtesy of Getty Images

TSENG CLINGS TO LEAD AT LPGA CHAMPIONSHIP

YANI TSENG

PITTSFORD, N.Y. - After seeing her lead disappear in the morning session, Yani Tseng fought her way back into a place where she's been plenty comfortable this year.

The top-ranked Tseng overcame a double bogey on her ninth hole to shoot a 2-under 70 on Friday for a one-stroke lead over Pat Hurst after the second round of the LPGA Championship, the tour's second major of the year.

Hurst had a 67. Morgan Pressel, Minea Blomqvist, and Hee Young Park were 6 under after 69s.

Battling a torrential downpour then a steady drizzle for nearly half her first nine holes, Tseng followed her first-round-best 66 with a gritty performance that put her at 8 under overall. She won the LPGA State Farm Classic two weeks ago for her second LPGA Tour victory of the year, and could become the first player since Lorena Ochoa in 2008 to follow a regular tournament victory with a win in a major.

"I feel a little bit disappointed in my round, but I hung in there," Tseng said. "I missed some short putts, and that's very disappointing. But I still have the lead, and I'm still very excited."

Hurst played in the morning before the heavy rain hit Locust Hill Country Club, and took a one-stroke lead before Tseng teed off on the back nine in the early afternoon.

Tseng shook off the inclement weather by reeling off three straight birdies to open a two-stoke edge over Hurst, but Tseng's game suddenly soured at the par-4 18th after her drive went into the left rough and under a tree, forcing her to punch out.

A nifty approach shot that stopped about 3 feet from the hole left her with a chance to salvage a bogey, but her putt rimmed out, and left her looking at the hole in disbelief.

She promptly regained her focus and grabbed the lead with a birdie at No. 1.

"I told myself, 'I have to make birdie,'" she said. "I looked up to the sky, kept my head up, and was thinking positive."

Tseng fell back into a tie with Hurst and eventually Pressel after bogeying her 14th hole, but at No. 8 she made the last of her five birdies on the day to head into the weekend with a slim lead.

Unlike Tseng, Hurst gave plenty of credit to her play on the green. She made two long putts on the day, including a 40-footer on her 17th hole (No. 8) that gave her a brief two-stroke edge over Tseng.

"I feel like I've been hitting the ball really well...the bottom line is not making any putts," said Hurst, who hasn't won a tournament since 2009. "I'm just thinking about playing some good golf and making some putts."

Hurst also holed a chip shot from the light fringe on No. 15 after her approach shot went over the green.
"I would really be excited if it was Sunday," she joked. "I've gained a little bit of confidence out there and feeling good."

Pressel moved into a brief second-place tie with Hurst after she birdied the par-5 17th hole, but she then bogeyed 18 to fall back into third.

"I felt good out there and made a lot of good swings," she said. "I feel like I can keep the ball in play."

Defending champion Cristie Kerr shot her second straight 72 to make the cut. Michelle Wie also opened with consecutive 72s.

- Story by The Associated Press/Photo courtesy of Getty Images

TSENG SOARS TO LEAD AT LPGA CHAMPIONSHIP

YANI TSENG

PITTSFORD, N.Y. - Top-ranked Yani Tseng shot a 6-under 66 on Thursday to take a one-stroke lead over Paula Creamer in the first round of the LPGA Championship.

Meena Lee, Angela Stanford, Diana D'Alessio and Stacy Prammanasudh were 4 under, and Morgan Pressel, Stacy Lewis, Ryann O'Toole, Amy Hung, Hee Young Park, Jennifer Johnson and Maria Blomqvist were all at 3 under.

Defending champion Cristie Kerr, who was ailing with a light case of the flu, shot an even-par 72.

Play was halted in the early evening by a severe thunderstorm, but resumed at 7:39 p.m. EST with 58 players still on the course. Play was suspended until Friday at 9:12 p.m. EST, with six players still having not finished their opening rounds.

Tseng made five birdies on the front nine and three more on the back to go with a pair of bogeys. She recovered from a bad tee shot at the par-4 18th hole that landed in the thick right rough, hit her second shot to 4 feet, and drained the birdie putt for sole possession of the lead.

Tseng won the LPGA State Farm Classic on June 12 for her second victory of the year.

- The Associated Press