So what if the top six players in the Rolex world rankings aren’t here at the Lotte Championship?

Is resting up instead of warming up for next week’s Chevron Championship, the first LPGA major of the year, the better strategy?

Regardless, the final round of the Lotte today at Hoakalei Country Club is set up for drama.

Just do the math. A close finish is more likely than not with eight players within two shots of the lead. Five more are three strokes off the pace set by rookie Yu Jin Sung, who leads at 9 under after the first three rounds.

Many of the names on the leaderboard aren’t familiar to casual fans, but there’s a Cinderella story here for everyone. And seven different flags among that top eight makes it fun, too.

Sung is a soft-spoken kid from Korea who got in via a sponsor’s exemption. She was tied at times Friday, but never passed.

The three women a shot back tied for second —- Grace Kim, Georgia Hall and Linnea Strom —- are all underdog stories, too.

Kim is another rookie who seems oblivious to pressure.

“Kind of scrambled out there today, but managed to finish beating the course,” she said, after scrapping to a 2-under 70.

It was typical of the day, which had a survive-and-advance feel to it for those who clogged the leaderboard.

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None of the eight leaders going into the final round, who all had late tee times for the third round, shot in the 60s Friday, as the wind picked up in the afternoon. But they all broke par, except for Natthakritta Vongtaveelap. She was 1 over at 73 and is among the players two back and tied for fifth.

Hall has won twice in her six years on the LPGA Tour. Mostly recently, she has finished second in her past two tournaments.

“I hope it’s third time lucky, right? We’ll see what happens,” said Hall, who was runner-up at the DIO Implant LA Open and the LPGA Drive On Championship at Superstition Mountain.

Strom crushed it for three rounds in 2021 when this tournament was played at Kapolei Golf Club, shooting 13 under. A final-round 71 dropped her to a 27th-place finish. That was the year Lydia Ko won, shooting a tournament-record 28 under.

Hoakalei is a tougher course than Kapolei, especially with the wind up the way it has been this week.

Ko, who is No. 1 in the Rolex rankings, isn’t here this year.

“It’s fun to see that there is some new names up there, which pretty much shows that anyone can win,” said Strom, 26, who has three career top-10s and no wins on the LPGA Tour. “I think especially when it’s windy also you need to be able to be patient and control the ball pretty good.”

Christina Kim — a star in her 20s who is now 39, and won most recently in 2014 — is among the players tied for fifth, two shots off the lead.

She said the course is challenging, but she likes it that way.

“It is a beautifully crafted piece of property and I am a big fan of paspalum (grass),” she said. “Your ball is basically teed up any time you’re in the fairway. When you’re not in the fairway, you should be punished.

“Even when the winds aren’t up. The Ernie Els design, there is a beautiful flow to the golf course, and when you got some of the shorter holes you got really demanding greens,” she added. “You have some run-outs, a bunch of swales that will just sort of eat your ball and suck it down into the ether.”