Perrine Delacour of France birdied three of the last five holes card a 4-under-par 67 on Saturday and take a one-stroke lead over Alison Lee, who faltered late in the third round of the Kingsmill LPGA Classic at Kingsmill Resort in Williamsburg, Va.
Delacour, who has not finished in the top 10 in two seasons on the LPGA Tour and has missed the cut in five of her six tournaments this year, has made only one bogey in each round, opening with scores of 67-68.
“I know I’m going to be nervous tomorrow with the on the LPGA for the first time,” said Delacour, whose best finish was a tie for 15th in the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open. “I’m going to just try my best and try to enjoy myself.
“I worked on my chipping last week and have much more confidence in it. I feel like if I miss the green I can get up-and-down and make par.”
Lee, a rookie who left the UCLA golf team and turned pro in December, held the 36-hole lead and still was in charge before make a bogey on the 16th hole and four-putting for a double bogey 5 on No. 17 en route to a 71.
“I just made some bad strokes,” said Lee, who was No. 1 in the college and world amateur rankings before earning medalist honors at the LPGA Tour Qualifying Tournament late last year.
“I hope that doesn’t come back to haunt me. I’m just glad that I was able to finish under par and I’m looking forward to tomorrow. I just want to come out and finish strong.”
Paula Creamer eagled the third hole on her way to a 66 and was two shots back in a tie for third with Minjee Lee of South Korea, who had a 66, and So Yeon Ryu of South Korea, who totaled 69.
Lexi Thompson was three strokes behind in solo sixth after a 67, while Suzann Pettersen of Norway shot 68 was another shot behind in a tie for seventh with Angela Stanford (68), Hyo Joo Kim (67) of South Korea and Jing Yan (69) of China.
