Inbee Park maintains Olympic lead

• South Korean Inbee Park remains in the lead after round three

• Lydia Ko and Gerina Piller only two shots off the pace

• First round leader Jutanugarn forced to WD with injury

Olympic Women’s Golf: Rnd 3

-11 Inbee Park; -9 Lydia Ko, Gerina Piller; -8 Shanshan Feng; -5 Hee Young Yang, In Gee Chun, Charley Hull; -4 Su Oh, Paula Reto, Suzann Pettersen, Anna Nordqvist, Minjee Lee, Brooke Henderson, Stacy Lewis Selected others: +1 Catriona Matthew; +2 Lexi Thompson

Inbee Park will take a two-shot lead into the final round of the women’s Olympic golf tournament after carding a one-under 70 in today’s third round in Rio.

The South Korean, 28, the second round leader, sits atop the leaderboard ahead of world No.1 Lydia Ko and American Gerina Piller who carded rounds of 65 and 66 respectively on a blustery day in Brazil.

Read more -> LPGA chief makes Olympic dig at PGA Tour

Chinese golfer Shanshan Feng is sitting in fourth place on eight-under, three shots clear of Hee Young Yang and In Gee Chun of South Korea, and Team GB’s Charley Hull, who carded a two-over 73.

CONTINUES BELOW…

Hull’s fellow Brit, Catriona Matthew, above, had a day to forget, turning in a six-over 77 to all but end her medal prospects.

Park, however, is on track to deliver South Korea’s eighth gold of the Games after breaking par for the third day on the spin.

Read more -> Justin Rose claims gold for Team GB

She had three birdies and two bogeys in an eventful front nine, reaching the turn in 34. Her back nine was no less wild. She birdied the par-5 tenth before coughing up shots on the 12th and 14th holes. She got them back with birdies at 16 and 17 before stumbling to a bogey on the par-5 18th.

CONTINUES BELOW

Meanwhile, world No.1 Ko, above, set a blistering pace, going out in 29 courtesy of birdies at the first, fifth, sixth and ninth, as well as the first hole-in-one of her career at the par-3 eighth. She then reeled off nine straight pars on the inward half to consolidate a six-under 65 and vault up the leaderboard.

“I thought I was going to cry” – Lydia Ko after her hole-in-one

“To make my first hole-in-one at the Olympics, it just doesn’t get any better than that,” said Ko afterwards. “I thought I was going to try. It really puts the cherry on top.”

Elsewhere, first round leader Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand was forced to withdraw midway through the third round. A knee injury left the 20-year-old unable to continue in the tournament.

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Inbee Park: Can she hold on?

Do you think Inbee Park will be wearing the gold medal tomorrow night? Or do you think another player will come through to win the first women’s Olympic gold event since 1900? Leave your thoughts in our ‘Comments’ section below.

Michael McEwan is the Deputy Editor of bunkered and has been part of the team since 2004. In that time, he has interviewed almost every major figure within the sport, from Jack Nicklaus, to Rory McIlroy, to Donald Trump. The host of the multi award-winning bunkered Podcast and a member of Balfron Golfing Society, Michael is the author of three books and is the 2023 PPA Scotland 'Writer of the Year' and 'Columnist of the Year'. Dislikes white belts, yellow balls and iron headcovers. Likes being drawn out of the media ballot to play Augusta National.

Deputy Editor