Yealimi Noh leads Women’s Open by three shots after Ryu Hae-ran stumbles

Ryu Hae-ran has 18 holes to recover from events in the third round of the Women’s Open. Her stumble at Royal Lytham and St Annes would have counted as one of the most remarkable in recent major championship memory had it taken place a day later. Saturday proved it is never, ever over on terrain such as this. Adam Scott can verify that, such was his horrible capitulation here as Ernie Els claimed the Open of 2012. There must be something about Lytham.

Ryu is looking to set an extraordinary record of three major wins in as many starts. Early in the third round, she looked firmly on course for that. The South Korean marched to a four-shot lead after four. Her advantage was the same on the 7th tee. By the time she walked from the 18th green, Ryu was three adrift of Yealimi Noh. Quite the turnaround. How damaging? That remains to be seen.

Ryu joined Jeeno Thitikul, Lucy Li, Esther Henseleit and Shiho Kuwaki on an aggregate of four under par. That group is the closest to Noh.

Lytham provides a fiendishly difficult test. Ryu looked unflappable until the 7th, where she cracked a drive right, towards the railway line between Blackpool South and Preston. After a penalty drop, a bogey hardly seemed disastrous. Yet it triggered a horrible run. Ryu made bogey on the 8th, 10th, 12th and 14th after finding a series of bunkers. Her lead, one at the turn, had evaporated by the 10th when she found herself level with Kuwaki.

As Ryu was faltering, Noh delivered a links masterclass. Her 69 included an inward half of 33. Noh’s prominence here is a surprise, given her overall major record is not particularly impressive. “It was a little bit of a rocky start,” said Noh, who was three over through six. “But my putting was solid after that and my shots too. I just settled into a better routine and focused on my tempo on the back nine.

“It’s just another round of golf out there tomorrow and I’m going to enjoy it. I’m just happy to be in this position and ready to go again.”

Nelly Korda birdied the 17th to move to one under par. The world No 1 could have been considered in the mix at that point but a horrible double bogey at the last followed, which surely ended her Women’s Open dream. The eight-shot gap is not the only problem for Korda, instead the number of strong players between her and Noh. Lydia Ko is one of them and feels notable at minus one.

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Home hope remains alive. Lottie Woad’s 70 means she is very much in touch at three under. Charley Hull is just a stroke further back after her 71. Hull claimed she played like a 10-handicap amateur in the early stages of her round. The vagaries of Lytham mean any player within sight of the lead going into the final day has a legitimate hope of glory. Woad’s unflustered nature is an advantage here while Hull is long overdue major success.

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“The more times you’re in that position the more comfortable you get,” said Woad. “I know I can play well in this tournament and I have done the last two years and had that experience of being in the mix. And even this year, obviously a few weeks ago I was leading at the Evian Championship, so I can kind of use that experience as well. The more times you put the yourself in that position is obviously a good thing.

“It’s always great when the fans are pulling for you. I mean, it’s not all going to be on me tomorrow. Charley is playing great too, so people going to be supporting both of us.” Indeed they are. As Ryu already knows, she is firmly up against it in her bid to make history.