US Women’s Open LIVE: Australia’s Minjee Lee on hunt for history

Here’s the state of play as it stands right now:

-3: Yuka Saso (Jpn)
-2: Andrea Lee (USA)
-1: Arpichaya Yubol (Tha), Hinako Shibuno (Jpn)
E: Minjee Lee (Aus), Ally Ewing (USA)

+5: Hannah Green (Aus)
+9: Sarah Kemp (Aus)
+13: Gabi Ruffels (Aus)

What a disaster!

Minjee Lee is watching this US Open slip through her fingers here and has found the water on the par-three 12th with her tee shot, the same hole which world No.1 Nelly Korda had a 10 in the first round.

After all that, she signs for a double bogey and that might be the watery grave which killed her chances of a second US Open. She’s now three behind Yuka Saso with six holes to play, and five-over on her final day after 12 holes.

What more can go wrong?

Breathe, everyone, breathe.

Minjee Lee has steadied the ship, ever so slightly, with par on the 11th hole. That will have to feel good after the calamity of the last hour.

But the bad news? Japan’s Yuka Saso has made another birdie on the par-five 13th to take the lead.

For the first time all day, Minjee Lee is not leading the US Open. But there’s still a lot of golf to play.

Can you believe it? Minjee Lee’s lead is gone, just like that.

After looking in complete control of this tournament for the last couple of hours as others around her faltered, Minjee Lee has made what can only be described as a very sloppy three-putt bogey on the 10th hole, missing a par putt from just a few feet.

It’s her fourth bogey in her last eight holes and she’s back to two-under for the tournament.

But crucially up ahead, former US Open winner, Japan’s Yuka Saso, has made a birdie on the 12th hole and is now in a share of the lead with Minjee Lee.

This tournament has just taken a huge twist.

While we watch Minjee Lee chase a slice of Australian golfing history in the United States this morning, there’s one tournament she craves almost more than most: the Australian Open.

The two-time major winner is yet to win her national championship, and five months out from this year’s event, there’s still no venue announced for the flagship tournament of the Australian summer.

Just two years after Golf Australia announced it would have men and women playing alongside each other for equal prize money, there are questions about the viability of the tournament in its current format.

Click here for a read on why the Australian Open is at the crossroads.

Can anyone make a birdie out there? Even a few pars will do?

There’s another twist in the tale with Minjee Lee scrapping her way to bogey on the ninth after another errant drive, which has been her weakness all day. In fact, she hasn’t hit a fairway in her outward nine. Will it come back to bite her?

To be fair, her long par putt snaked just next to the hole so she will be relieved with a tap-in bogey, but it’s another dropped shot on a day full of them.

Overnight co-leaders Andrea Lee and Wichanee Meechai have dropped four and five shots respectively so far today, and the reason Minjee’s leading is because she’s only frittered away a couple of shots.

The lead is back to two. Onto the back nine.

And just like that, the lead is back to three.

Minjee Lee makes no mistake on the eighth with a carefree par, but Andrea Lee makes another mistake with bogey to fall back to four-over for her round and one-under for the tournament.

It means Minjee now has a handy cushion from four chasers, who are all locked at one-under.

Who would have thought at the start of the day when she was locked in a three-way share of the lead she would have a margin of three shots after just eight holes of the final round?

No issues for Minjee Lee on the par-five seventh, but was that a missed opportunity?

After sending her dive a little askew into thick rough, she lays up back on the fairway and then sticks a wedge to within 10 feet for birdie. While playing partner Andrea Lee can only manage a long two putt for par, Minjee’s birdie try again shaves the outside of the hole.

It looks like a bit of a misread there as she takes a step back and analyses the line again after missing that putt. No dramas though as she tidies up for par. And pars will be enough to win this tournament.

The lead is still two shots as we edge closer to the turn.

Here’s how the Australians have fared not named Minjee Lee.

World No.5 Hannah Green, who has been playing some of the best golf of her career in recent months, has been the day’s outstanding performer, in the clubhouse with a four-under 66, the lowest score in the final round to date. It has pulled her back to five-over for the tournament and a share of 14th.

Sarah Kemp (+9) posted an even-par final round 70 and Gabi Ruffels (+13), the only other Australian to make the cut, also carded a fourth round 70.

It’s been a pretty good day for the Australians, with one star trying to cap it off.

Oh, we might have just seen the door open ever so slightly for Minjee Lee’s rivals with a tricky three-putt for bogey on the sixth.

Guarding against the creek running adjacent to the green and a flag tucked on that side, the Australian plays it safe to the right side of the dance floor, but has a long, long birdie try, replete with a little ridge which forces the ball to quicken up as it gets closer to the hole.

Her first putt is a beauty, rolling just five feet past the hole. But her par putt coming back slides past the hole, and it’s her second dropped shot in four holes after an opening birdie.

The lead is back to two. The drama.

It’s been a case of absolute carnage so far in the final round.

The Lee squared final group, Australia’s Minjee and the United States’ Andrea, are through five holes and only Minjee has managed to keep her card intact so far. She’s even-par for the day and remains at five-under for the tournament.

Andrea has already dropped three shots to be two-under for the tournament, Minjee’s closest rival at the moment. The Japanese duo of Yuka Saso and Hinako Shibuno have fallen to one-under and Thailand’s Wichanee Meechai, who until five minutes ago, was Lee’s biggest threat on the leaderboard. But she’s just carded a disastrous triple-bogey six on the par three-sixth hole, complete with a double bogey try which horseshoed around the hole to plunge back to even par.

Somehow, this is a little fun to watch the world’s best golfers struggle so badly. They’re human after all.