Minjee Lee Cards Bogey-Free Round to Take Lead at KPMG Women's PGA Championship

A bogey-free round? In these conditions?

Sometimes all you can do is tip your cap.

It was as impressive an effort as any Saturday for Minjee Lee at a blustery Fields Ranch East, and after a 3-under 69, Lee heads into the finale in Texas with a four-shot lead.

Lee, twice a major champion in her career, sits at 6-under 210 after 54 holes. Jeeno Thitikul struggled with a 4-over 76 Saturday and is in second at 2 under.

They are the only two golfers under par heading into Sunday.

Lee’s 3-under 69 was one shot off the round-of-the-day. Grace Kim shot a 4-under 68 and moved up 58 spots on the leaderboard into the top 10.

Lee, who has been ranked as high as No. 2 in the world, stayed steady through Saturday making eight pars in a row before finally making a birdie on the par-5 9th. She added back-to-back birdies on Nos. 14 and 15 as well.

“I'm feeling pretty good. I think I played really well within myself today,” Lee said. “Took the birdies when I could and made really great up and downs when I was out of position.”

The Australian was in the top five in every statistical category on Saturday save for strokes gained: approach and sits first in strokes gained: putting for the week, gaining more than 3.5 shots to the field.

It’s an incredible turnaround for Lee with the flatstick as she sits eighth in that statistic for the season – a jump from No. 157 last year. She switched to a broomstick-length putter at the beginning of 2025 and that’s made a world of difference.

Thitikul and Lee will play together again for the final round. It’s a friendly pairing but Thitikul knows she’ll have to step it up in order to eclipse Lee who played “absolutely” with her “A-game” on Saturday.

“I never saw her miss today at all. I mean, like even tee shots. I think she just missed one tee shot and then like always on the fairway, always in the green, two putts. Then you know, 3-under par today, I was like, ‘Wow, that's really (impressive),’” Thitikul said.

Lee, who called her four-shot lead “really big,” admitted she did look at the leaderboards through her third round but mostly to see where she was. She didn’t notice that she had one of the rounds of the day going, nor that she was the only golfer who was bogey free.

“I didn’t really let my mind go that far. I just kind of tried to play each shot as it came to me, and especially in these conditions it's going to be tough for everyone. I just tried to execute to my 100 percent on each shot,” Lee said. “Bogey-free is really great score today. We still have tomorrow to go.”

Tomorrow is still to come, indeed. But with a four-shot cushion, Lee is feeling great with her spot on the board.

“I'm just going to put my head down and just work on the things that I can do and do it to the best of my ability,” Lee said. “That's what I'm going to focus on.”