The Ascendant LPGA: Hyo Joo Kim takes five-stroke lead into final round

South Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim heads into the final round of The Ascendant LPGA Benefiting Volunteers of America in a clear lead after carding a 70 on Saturday; watch the final-round LPGA action in Texas from 9pm live on the Sky Sports Golf red button

Hyo Joo Kim of South Korea widened her lead with a one-under 70 in the third round of The Ascendant LPGA on a windy Saturday at the Colony, Texas.

Ranked No 7 in the world, Kim moved to 11-under 202 and will head into Sunday’s final round with a five-stroke lead over Sarah Kemp of Australia (69) and Lexi Thompson (71).

Kim ran into a bit of early trouble with bogeys on the fourth and sixth but rebounded on the back nine with birdies at the 13th, 15th and 16th.

Kemp, who was tied for ninth after the second round, overcame five bogeys with five birdies, along with an eagle on the par-four 15th hole.

“Yeah, didn’t realise the tee was going to be moved up today,” Kemp said of the 15th hole.

“It’s a great move-up by the LPGA because it’s not an easy, even short is a difficult chip.

“Long is a difficult chip on that green – I just happened to play it perfectly.

“I got a great bounce from the front of the green and I had, what, maybe five feet for eagle, so that was awesome.”

Thompson, who led the field with a 65 on Friday to move into a tie for third, bogeyed three of her first four holes on Saturday before settling down with three birdies on the back nine.

“I definitely played a lot more difficult out there,” Thompson said.

“I didn’t get off to the best of starts – I seemed to be super windy in the first four or five holes, and then kind of calmed down and came back up here and there.”

Sweden’s Frida Kinhult jumped from joint-15th to third with a 68, tying her for the low round of the day despite a double-bogey on 14.

“I was laughing with my caddie,” Kinhult said of the double-bogey.

“I said, ‘better to take all at once’. I kind of saved that double – it wasn’t a gimme double, I had to work it in.”

South Korea’s So Yeon Ryu (68), Sarah Schmelzel (69) and Denmark’s Nicole Broch Estrup (70) are tied for fifth at four under.

Five players are tied for eighth, including Sofia Garcia of Paraguay, who dropped from second place with a third-round 76.

Watch the Ascendant LPGA Benefiting Volunteers of America form 9pm, live on the red button on Sky Sports Golf.