Jeon In-ji's Fierce Battle "The Only 'Top 10' Chase~"... Lee Min-ji Leads by One Stroke

Founders Cup Day 3: 3-Under Par Tied 8th, Saxstrom 2nd, Thompson 3rd, 'Number 1' Ko Jin-young Tied 25th

Jeon In-ji is teeing off on the 2nd hole on the third day of the Cognizant Founders Cup. Clifton, USA = Getty Images / Multibits

[Asia Economy Reporter No Woo-rae] Jeon In-ji (28, KB Financial Group) is fighting alone.

On the 15th (Korean time), at the Clifton Upper Montclair Golf Club in New Jersey, USA (par 72, 6,536 yards), during the third day of the LPGA Tour Cognizant Founders Cup (total prize money $3 million), she added 3 under par to rise to a tie for 8th place (8 under par 208 strokes). Minjee Lee (Australia) leads (17 under par 199 strokes), Madelene Saxstr?m (Sweden) is in 2nd place (16 under par 200 strokes), and Lexi Thompson (USA) is in 3rd place (14 under par 202 strokes).

Jeon In-ji started from a tie for 22nd place, 9 strokes behind, and recorded 6 birdies and 3 bogeys. After a birdie on the 2nd hole (par 5) was offset by a bogey on the 3rd hole (par 4), she energized herself with consecutive birdies on the 4th and 5th holes. However, she faltered with bogeys on the 7th and 11th holes, then changed the momentum with a birdie on the 12th hole (par 5), and entered the top 10 as the only Korean player with consecutive birdies on the 14th and 15th holes. She relied on an average drive of 254 yards and 27 putts during the round.

Although she is 9 strokes behind the leader, making a comeback victory difficult, she is only 1 stroke behind the tie for 5th place. Jeon In-ji debuted on the LPGA Tour in 2016 and has won 3 times in total, including 2 major championships. However, she has been struggling without a title for nearly 4 years since winning the KEB Hana Bank Championship in October 2018. This year, she has participated in 8 tournaments but has not collected a winner’s trophy. Her best result was a tie for 2nd place at the HSBC Women's in March.

Lee Minji is discussing the putting line with her caddie on the 1st hole during the third day of the Cognizant Founders Cup. Clifton, USA = Getty Images / Multibits Photo by Multibits

Minjee Lee reduced her score by 3 strokes and topped the leaderboard for the second consecutive day. This is her chance for her 7th career win, 10 months after winning the major Evian Championship last July. Korea’s Choi Hye-jin (23, Lotte) and Shin Ji-eun (30, Hanwha Q CELLS) are performing well, tied for 12th place (7 under par 209 strokes). Ko Jin-young (27), who is aiming for her third consecutive win at this tournament and is ranked number 1, is tied for 25th place (5 under par 211 strokes). Kim Ah-rim (27, SBI Savings Bank) is tied for 44th place (3 under par 213 strokes), and Park Sung-hyun (29) is tied for 62nd place (1 under par 215 strokes).