Friday was the day that Mi Hyun Kim really distinguished herself. Playing with Se Ri Pak, who had a decent but unspectacular one over par 73, Kimmie was quite simply on fire. She was shooting darts with her fairway woods, and even more impressively, her putting, which had given her so much trouble all year, was finally on the mark. After a first hole bogey, she settled down and did not make another serious mistake again. Her front nine consisted of two more birdies on holes 4 and 7, while on the back nine she really blazed, with three more birdies on 13, 15 and 17 and a couple more near misses. Indeed, the most impressive thing about her putting was the sheer distance control she was exhibiting. Every putt that didn't go in seemed to end up right next to the hole. Her four under par 68 vaulted her from 15th place to a tie for third. It was the lowest score of the day. Kimmie was back!

Han did not have that kind of a day, but her day was not bad. On the front side she had a burst of activity from holes 3 through 6: birdie, birdie, bogey, birdie. But bogeys on 10 and 12 knocked her back to even par for the day, before a gorgeous iron on 17 provided her final birdie and a one under par score. This left her in a tie for the lead with her playing partner Delasin, who had duplicated her scores of the first two days. No other player was at that point under par.

Things went much better for Mi Hyun on Friday:
The best round of the day!
Reuters/Tami Chappell

Mi Hyun continued her great play on Saturday
Reuters/Tami Chappell

On Saturday, the weather improved markedly, and so did the scoring. In fact, a gaggle of players managed 67s on this day, including Se Ri Pak and Grace Park, who both climbed back into the fray with those scores. Mi Hyun was paired with Lorie Kane, a player she later said she felt very comfortable with. It showed. Although her round was a little more ragged than her brilliant round on Friday, it was still one of the best of the day, and thus moved her into a great position with just one round to go.

She started out with a birdie on the par 3 2nd, and grabbed another on the par 5 6th. This put her at 2 under par, but it was not to last, for she bogeyed the next two holes. She would be even par after 9 holes. On the back, she once again picked up the pace, with birdies on 13, 16 and 17. She missed only two greens on the back and only three all day. It was a great reminder of just what Peanut is capable of when her putting and her fairway woods are working together in perfect harmony. Her final score of 3 under par left her only 2 shots out of the lead.

And who held that lead? Well, once again, Hee-Won Han and Dorothy Delasin were paired together. And once again, they battled each other tooth and nail, both playing brilliant golf. Hee-Won had a flawless front nine, two birdies, no bogeys. On the back, she was showing the form that made her almost unstoppable late in the summer. Gorgeous, crisp iron shots followed one after the other. If her putting had been a little sharper, she might have walked off with 6 or 7 birdies on the back. Several of her putts were just a little off, usually short by a roll but perfectly on line. But she did manage to birdie 10 and 13 to move to 5 under and a tie with Delasin. And there they stayed most of the rest of the back nine. On 17, she managed a great par save to keep her momentum going, then missed the green on 18 to test herself again. She got her ball close, but was not able to cozy the par save in after pulling her putt a bit. So on the last hole of the day, she finally dropped out of a tie for the lead. Still, she was in second, and would for the third straight day play with Delasin. She had a 69 on Saturday, her best round of the tournament so far, and everything pointed to her being a formidable opponent on Sunday.

Hee-Won was just one shot out of the lead
going into Sunday
Reuters/Tami Chappell