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Michelle Wie of Honolulu watches her drive off the first tee in the third round of the LPGA Lotte Championship golf tournament at the Ko Olina Golf Club today in Kapolei, Hawaii. (AP Photo/Eugene Tanner)
Honolulu’s Michelle Wie righted the ship with a 3-under 69 in today’s third round of the LPGA Lotte Championship played at Ko Olina Golf Club on West Oahu. She is 1 under for the tournament and tied for 40th.
After shooting a 4-under 68, Suzann Pettersen holds a one-shot advantage at 14-under 202 over South Korea’s Hee Kyung Seo, who equaled the low round of the day with a 66—213. Pettersen birdied her first three holes for the second time in three rounds to drop to 13 under. She had two birdies and one bogey the rest of the day.
Seo had two chip-ins. The first was for eagle at the par-5 fifth and the other for birdie. Defending champion Ai Miyazato is alone in third at 11-under 205 after shooting a 70.
Teeing it up on the back nine, Wie avoided any disasters at No. 10 en route to parring her first three holes before carding birdies at Nos. 13 and 15 to drop to even for the tournament.
The Punahou School graduate hit a beautiful shot into No. 18, 5 feet above the hole to manage her third birdie of the round to drop to 1 under for the event. After shooting a 33 on the back, Wie came home in 36 with a birdie at the third and a bogey on the eighth to keep her from carding a bogey-free round.
Wie barely made the cut after shooting a 4-over 76 in blustery conditions on Thursday. Today, passing showers provided muggy conditions with the winds staying lower.
