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Edina, Minnesota: Just 19 days after turning professional, American Stacy Lewis stole the limelight from the game's best players by grabbing a one-shot lead in the US Women's Open third round on Saturday.
Rolling the ball beautifully on the difficult, sloping greens at Interlachen Country Club, Lewis fired a flawless six-under-par 67 to take control of the third women's major of the year.
The 23-year-old, who earlier this month led the US amateurs to Curtis Cup victory over Britain & Ireland, sank a curling seven-footer to birdie the last for a nine-under total of 210.
"It's been such a great week," a beaming Lewis told reporters after ending a blustery day at Interlachen one ahead of American world number four Paula Creamer (69).
No surprise
"Truthfully I'm not really that surprised to be in this position. I felt like I could compete at this level. It was kind of my goal to put myself into contention to win going into the last day.
"I think the Curtis Cup gave me more confidence, knowing I could hit shots under pressure. That's probably the most pressure I've ever played on is that Curtis Cup."
Lewis turned professional on June 9 to compete in a sectional qualifier in her home state of Texas for this week's US Women's Open. She won that qualifier by four shots to keep her dream month alive.
Three off the pace after the weather-delayed second round ended earlier on Saturday, Lewis birdied the second, fourth and eighth to create a log-jam of five players atop the leaderboard.
Out in three-under 33, she picked up further shots at the 14th, where she holed a 25-footer, the 15th and the last to wrest the initiative from a clutch of much more experienced players.
Creamer, seeking her seventh LPGA victory at the age of 21, failed to birdie the par-five last to stay one shot behind at eight under.
However, she was delighted to be in the hunt for her maiden major title.
"I couldn't ask for any better position," Creamer said.
"I've done the work so far and tomorrow I just have to go out and finish the deal. I'm really enjoying my week."
Scores
Leading third-round scores at the $3.1 million US Women's Open at the Interlachen Country Club (par-73, South Korea unless noted):
210 - Stacy Lewis (USA) 73-70-67
211 - Paula Creamer (USA) 70-72-69
212 - Helen Alfredsson (SWE) 70-71-71, In-Bee Park 72-69-71
213 - In-Kyung Kim 71-73-69
214 - Mi Hyun Kim 72-72-70
215 - Angela Park (BRA) 73-67-75, a-Maria Jose Uribe (COL) 69-74-72
216 - Jeong Jang 73-69-74, Young Kim 74-71-71, Teresa Lu (TPE) 71-72-73, Momoko Ueda (JPN) 72-71-73
Leading third-round scores on Saturday in the $5 million Buick Open (par-72, USA unless noted):
200 - Daniel Chopra (SWE) 65-67-68
202 - Bubba Watson 67-67-68, Woody Austin 66-67-69, Dudley Hart 64-68-70
203 - Kenny Perry 69-67-67, Bo Van Pelt 64-66-73
204 - Briny Baird 65-71-68, Charles Warren 67-68-69, Ken Duke 69-66-69, Matt Jones (AUS) 70-63-71
205 - Corey Pavin 64-74-67, Rod Pampling (AUS) 71-69-65, Michael Letzig 69-67-69, Lucas Glover 70-66-69
Leading third-round scores from the EPGA French Opene on Saturday:-
(Le Golf National - 7225 yards, par 71)
202 - Pablo Larrazabal (ESP) 65-70-67
205 - Soren Hansen (DEN) 69-69-67, Colin Montgomerie (SCO) 69-68-68
206 - Lee Westwood (ENG) 69-68-69, David Lynn (ENG) 70-65-71
207 - Markus Brier (GER) 70-71-66
208 - Oliver Fisher (ENG) 66-73-69
209 - Richard Green (AUS) 73-71-65, Soren Kjeldsen (DEN) 72-71-66, Charl Schwartzel (RSA) 73-70-66, Graeme McDowell (NIR) 69-73-67, John Bickerston (ENG) 72-69-68, Rafa Echenique (ARG) 69-71-69
210 - Peter O'Malley (AUS) 71-72-67
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