Minjee Lee chips crisply to a couple of feet. That’s just the one shot gone. Her playing partner and namesake Andrea has a putt for birdie from 25 feet that would put them both back where they started … but she can’t make it. Just a par, but now the deficit is just one.

-5: M Lee (3)
-4: A Lee (3)

An unforced error by the leader Minjee Lee on 3. From the first cut to the left of the fairway, just 50 yards out, she carves her wedge into sand to the right of the green. Then a blast out races hysterically across the dancefloor and nearly ends up in a bunker on the other side. The ball stops in the fringe but she’ll have a testing up-and-down to limit the damage to bogey.

Hinako Shibuno is the latest member of the leading pack to start moving backwards. A careless lip-out from a couple of feet on 3 costs the 25-year-old from Japan a shot. But there’s another player looking to make a late run and get themselves involved; Arpichaya Yubol, a 22-year-old from Thailand making her US Open debut this week, has opened her final round briskly with birdies at 1 and 4, and is homing in on the peloton at level par.

-6: M Lee (2)
-4: A Lee (2)
-3: Saso (4), Meechai (3)
-2: Shibuno (3)
E: Yubol (4)

Another three-putt bogey for Wichanee Meechai, this time at 2, and things are going south for the Thai underdog in double-quick time. She’s -3. Then in the final group coming behind, Andrea Lee finds herself in a deep greenside bunker at the same hole; she flips out elegantly to three feet and tidies up to save her par and avert a bogey-bogey start. She remains two off Minjee Lee.

Charley Hull has star quality – anyone who saw her making eagle on Sunday at Walton Heath last summer will attest to that. She’s been making ripples on social media this week because of this …

… which is her novel tactic to wean herself off the vapes. Anyway, she’s also smoking up the course today; birdies at 1, 5, 13 and 16 have blazed her up the leaderboard to +5. No breakthrough major this week, but it’s only a matter of time. More tales of smoking golfers can be found in the article below, which stars 1946 US Open winner Lloyd Mangrum, who like Hull exudes effortless cool. Hey, I don’t write the rules.

Minjee Lee opens with birdie! She sends her approach into 1 to 12 feet, and walks in the putt. But it’s a careless three-putt bogey for Andrea Lee, and in no time at all, a three-way tie for the lead turns into a two-shot advantage for the 2022 champ!

-6: M Lee (1)
-4: Meechai (1), A Lee (1)
-3: Saso (2), Shibuno (1)

The 2021 champion Yuka Saso has made the first move of the day at the top of the leader board, with birdie at 2. A 30-foot rake. Back on 1, Hinako Shibuno’s 20-foot birdie effort stays stubbornly out on the high side, and the 2019 British Open champion settles for an opening par. Wichanee Meechai doesn’t make hers, though; the first putt is fine, lagged up to four feet from great distance, but she doesn’t learn from Shibuno’s putt and leaves the second one high on the right.

-5: M Lee, A Lee
-4: Meechai (1)
-3: Saso (2), Shibuno (1)

Meechai is going around today with Hinako Shibuno, who is on the green in regulation. Meanwhile back on the tee, the final group take their opening shots. Andrea Lee is looking for her first major; she swishes her drive down the middle. Her namesake Minjee Lee has two majors to her name – this title in 2022 and the Evian in 2021 – and the Aussie bashes long down the left of the fairway, bounding past Meechai’s bunker with ease. Everyone is now on the course. This is on!

Wichanee Meechai knows a thing or two about fast starts. The world number 158 is a surprise contender, which is something she’s been since opening her second round on Friday afternoon with four straight birdies between 10 and 13. She’s been at the top ever since. But it’s not an ideal start for the 31-year-old Thai today; her opening drive stops near the side of a bunker on the left, and she’s forced to stand in the bunker, grip down the shaft, and take a baseball swing at a waist-high ball. The sort of thing that could go horribly wrong and ruin a round almost before it starts … however she’s made some big par saves this week, and is on course for another after clipping the ball 100 yards up the fairway and running it onto the edge of the green! That’s a stunning recovery, one that looked unlikely, and though she faces a long two putts for par, that’s quite the result.

Here we go, then! Lancaster Country Club has been playing hard all right, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be a score out there for someone today. The 2020 champion A Lim Kim is currently demonstrating that; the 28-year-old from South Korea started too far back today to challenge, but if she could sell her start to the leaders, she’d be raking in a fair coin. Birdies at 4 and 5, and she’s up to +3 in short order.

Preamble