Search for a golf course, city, state or zip code:

Tseng Maintains Lead in Women's British Open

Yani Tseng carded a 4-under 68 in the third round of the Women's British Open to maintain the four-stroke shot lead she had built entering Saturday. The Taiwanese goes into the final round at 12-under-par 204 in the LPGA Tour major being held at Royal Birkdale in England.

The 21-year-old's closest pursuer is Australia's Katherine Hull, who fired the low round of the day, a 6-under 66. South Korea's In-Kyung Kim (68) is alone in third at 6-under 210, while another stroke back is American Brittany Lincicome (71) in fourth.

Five players are tied for fifth at 212: Hee Kyung Seo (70), Momoko Ueda (70), Christina Kim (70), Suzann Pettersen (71) and Cristie Kerr (72).

After reinjuring her left wrist Friday en route to a 74, Paula Creamer rebounded with a 70 on a day that was a mixed weather bag: sunshine blended with wind and an occasional rain shower.

Creamer admitted it was tough not withdrawing due to the injury, but she's hanging in there as a tribute to the fans. "I'm in pain," said the recently crowned U.S Women's Open champion at Oakmont. "I've been in pain for a while, but I've kind of proved to myself, too, that I can come out here and play good golf. The fans here, honestly, they are amazing. I love coming over here, and I just wanted to be able to come out and play, and I was able to do it."

Tseng has only one bogey through 54 holes. She attributes her fine play to keeping calm, but whenever the nerves start to creep in she hums a personal tune. "But then I just sang to myself," she said. "It was an old school song."

Tseng added, "All week, I have stayed patient and trusted myself. Today I really enjoyed myself. But tomorrow (Sunday) will be tough. There are a lot of par-5s at the end someone could eagle the last two holes, so you never know what could happen." (See below for her full post-round interview.)

Hull is hoping for another outstanding round Sunday, something she'll need to catch Tseng. "I've worked on shaping shots over the last couple of years and that's what you need to do 'round here," the 28-year-old said. "It's always nice to finish with a string of birdies."

After she signed her scorecard, Tseng met with reporters and discussed her performance.

MODERATOR: Thank you, ladies and gentlemen. We have Yani Tseng in here. She just shot her third consecutive 68 for 12-under par, total of 194 and a 4-shot lead going into the last round. There are one or two people on deadline, Yani, so could you please talk about your eagle first?

YANI TSENG: I hit an 8-iron on my second shot, about 20 feet for eagle, and it was a right-to-left putt; and before I get into green, my caddy told me, let's see if we can make this. And I was like, you don't think I can make this? So I feel pumped up. I really wanted to make that.

MODERATOR: You started with 12 consecutive pars today. Was your plan to play conservative golf?

YANI TSENG: Today was a strong wind when we got to the greens. So I know I just needed to stay patient all day and just keep trust myself and get a good yardage and I know it will be fine. And I really enjoyed the crowd today. There was lots of people coming to watch, and they clap on every shot. So I feel like I better show my big smile to them.

MODERATOR: You've only dropped one shot in three rounds. That's fairly impressive around here, isn't it?

YANI TSENG: Yeah. I only had one bogey these three rounds, especially on this tough golf course, so I feel I'm very happy what I'm doing right now, be very consistent, and didn't let my mind go down; and be always confident, even when I hit a bad shot into a bunker and or into a rough. Always play one shot at a time and stay very positive.

MODERATOR: Okay. We have the microphone here if anybody wants to ask questions.

Q. Do you think it's going to come down tomorrow to those three par-5s on the last four holes?

YANI TSENG: I know. I think it's going to be fought on the last four holes, especially the three par-5s. And I think if the wind changes, everybody can reach the last two holes. On No. 15 today I was really nervous. After I hit the second shot, yes, feel like I make birdie there because I was hitting terrible the last two days. But I think it's going to be really fun, like you can make eagle the last two holes. You never know, so you gotta be patient and playing good on the first 14 holes going to the last four holes.

Q. Did you meet earlier this week with Vision 54?

YANI TSENG: Oh, you saw that. Yeah, I did, actually because I feel I was struggling a little bit after the Curtis Cup and Nabisco. And then I feel like that win was like two years ago. So I don't have anything special for me right now. So I'm talking to them, and I say, what do you think about my game? And she remind me a lot of things. She asked me, what do you think when you're playing good and what do you think right now. So like compare it to the best. And then we figure out that's three things she's given to me. So I put a note in my yardage book to look at all the times I hit a bad shot. Or when I walk in she say, I just sing a song when I play, like when I think about if I'm winning, I'm really -- if I want to play and make birdie.

If I think any negative things, then I will just sing a song. So I was singing songs all day today in my mind, and then sometimes -- it's hard because I'm singing songs, but I still think it that way. But I know what should I do for this week and I just be strong and happy, but not nervous, and I'm not go like five seconds in play box. I just want to pick a shot and just hit it and not think about where my ball is going. So I think it's really nice that I talk to them before I go to play because I think if I talk to them, it's not going to be worse. It's going to be the same or it's going to be better. So I think I did a good job.

Q. What's the song?

YANI TSENG: The song I sing. I really don't know. I was just jumping around. Kind of like singing old-school songs in Taiwanese.

Q. Is it all Taiwanese music you listen to or do you listen to other western music?

YANI TSENG: No. I listen to a lot of western stuff.

MODERATOR: Questions? In that case, thank you very much and good luck tomorrow.

YANI TSENG: Thank you.

The transcript for the above interview is courtesy of ASAP Sports.

('’)