Korea’s In Gee Chun leads AIG Women’s Open at Muirfield, Scotland

And Chun, who leads by one shot, has a goal for the two rounds over the weekend thanks to caddie Dean Herden which is to go bogey-free.

Buying dinner

“Before I started the tournament, my caddie Dean and I spoke about the course and after that, we had a little bit of a bet,” she said.

“If I make the bogey-free round, he said he’s going to buy dinner and pay me like $100 for each day if I can make it. So, before I start the round, I always set another goal to make a bogey-free round. I think that mindset helped a lot on the course. But I hit two bogeys over the last two days. I want to keep trying to make a bogey free round over the next two days.”

And Chun was thankful for the weather conditions on the 13th when she rolled a birdie putt to the edge of the hole and after a few seconds, it finally dropped in.

Sweden’s Madelene Sagström and South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai sit one shot back in a tie for second place on seven-under-par.

It was an excellent day for three-time LET winner Buhai after she made the turn in 30 (-6) with four birdies and one eagle on her scorecard.

Another birdie rolled in on the 11th before the South African dropped a shot on her final hole of the day but has still firmly put herself into contention heading into the weekend.

It is an historic week with Muirfield hosting the AIG Women’s Open for the first time, but Buhai’s hero growing up and fellow South African Ernie Els took home The Open Championship title here in 2002.

Sagström rolled in eight birdies during her round of 65 (-6), which was the joint-best of the day along with Buhai, and said putting was the key to her round.

“Putting,” she said. “Putting, putting, putting. I did miss two quite short putts, but I putted really, really well today and that helped my momentum. I was hitting it good enough to give myself some chances and keeping it in play. I didn’t hit in the bunkers today which helps in links golf but putting was the thing.”

One shot back

Korea’s Inbee Park sits in fourth place on six under having shot a round of 67 (-4) on day three with Japan’s Miyuu Yamashita and Australia’s Hannah Green one shot further back in tied fifth.

France’s Celine Boutier is in a share of seventh place on four under par alongside Australian pair Minjee Lee and Steph Kyriacou, as well as 2019 AIG Women’s Open champion Hinako Shibuno.

The cut fell at +3 with 65 players making it through to the final two rounds at Muirfield.