It was a rollercoaster of a day for golfers in Ehime for Round 3 of the 2020 Daio Paper Elleair Ladies Open and Yuka Saso found herself slipping a notch.
The two-time LPGA of Japan champion bucked a solitary bogey and ended with a solid 4-under 67, but went down to solo second at the end of 19 holes at the Elleair Golf Course, Saturday afternoon.
The current tour leader now carries an 11-under 202 heading to tomorrow’s final go-around.
Saso kept her lead after the front nine as she registered a birdie in the sixth hole to go with pars all over that side of the course.
However, with Ayaka Furue hot on her tails, the tour rookie bounced back on a bogey in the 11th hole with four straight birdies to keep in step with the former.
Furue fired two birdies in the 16th and 17th, as Saso settled for pars the rest of the way, and the Japanese wrested the lead at the end with a 7-under 64 for the day and a 13-under 200.
The 19-year-old Filipino-Japanese standout will try to go all out for her third title of the season as the tournament closes on Sunday at this southern Japanese prefecture.
