Lexi Thompson produced a sensational 63 (-9) on day three of the Aramco Saudi Ladies International presented by Public Investment Fund to soar up the leaderboard and equal the course record at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club.
The American put on a show on Saturday as she dropped no shots and carded nine birdies to move into fifth place on 13-under-par – five shots behind leader Lilia Vu.
A chip in on the opening hole lit the fire early doors as Thompson followed the birdie up with red numbers on three, six, seven and nine to go out in 31.
Capitalising on the calmer winds on day three, the Solheim Cup star then continued the trend on the back nine, rolling in birdies on 12, 13, and 15 before a beauty on 18 sealed the record-equalling round.
“Overall it was a really solid day out there,” Thompson said. “I chipped in on the first which I guess set the mood.
“We couldn’t have asked for better weather today. I don’t know if the wind was supposed to pick up, but there wasn’t much today and the sun was out so I couldn’t have asked for anything better.”
With the 63, Thompson equals the course record at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club, joining Stephanie Kyriacou (2020), Lydia Ko (2021) and Kelly Whaley (2022) as the only four players to achieve the feat.
She continued: “I just tried to stay in the moment and focus on what I did well yesterday, because yesterday was a pretty solid round too, so I just tried to build off that and take it into today.
“I’ve been working extremely hard on my putting. I put in two to three hours of drills a day on the putting green, so I’ve just been working extremely hard in the off-season on that.”
Aside from the hours of practice on the putting green, Thompson has also been boosted by having her brother, Curtis, on the bag this week.
“We always have a good time out there,” the 28-year-old explained. “We just talk about the most random things or get deep into a conversation that just goes nowhere.
“But it’s amazing, he knows me so well, and he knows my game probably better than I do because we play together every day back home. I’m so lucky and blessed to have him out here with me.”
Thompson sits five shots back heading into the final round of the Aramco Saudi Ladies International after rounds of 72, 68, and 63.
Sandwiched in between her and leader Vu are Aditi Ashok (-16), Emily Kristine Pedersen (-16) and World No 1 Lydia Ko (-17).
“One more round now,” Thompson said. “So let’s just see how it goes.”
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