Lauren Coughlin fired a one-over-par 73 to emerge from another testing day at Shadow Creek with a two-stroke lead over Nelly Korda in the LPGA Aramco Championship.
Swirling, sometimes gusty winds again pushed up scores on Saturday on the demanding course in Las Vegas, Nevada, where only eight players recorded rounds under par.
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That included world number two Korda, who had four birdies and a bogey in her three-under 69.
Coughlin, who started the day with a five-shot lead, bogeyed the third and sixth holes but was back to even for the day after birdies at the seventh and 11th.
Her advantage dwindled with back-to-back bogeys at 13 and 14 and she arrived at the par-five 18th — one of the hardest holes on the course on the day — just one in front of Korda.
Her approach raced through the green into a greenside bunker and her shot out rolled past the hole, but Coughlin made her birdie putt coming back to give herself a two-shot cushion with a seven-under total of 209.
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“This golf course is really, really hard, especially if you get in the wrong spot,” Coughlin said. “I felt like I did a pretty good job of at least getting in spots, and if I did get a little out, making sure I walked away with no worse than bogey.
“It’s going to be really hard tomorrow, so just going to see how it goes,” said the American.
Korda will play in the final group on Sunday for a third straight week. Her three-under effort included birdies at the third and fourth and, after a bogey at 15, impressive back-to-back birdies at the par-three 17th and the 18th.
Korda, five-under through 54 holes, also said patience was key in a round that saw long waits on several tees as players struggled to cope in the conditions.
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“Shadow Creek definitely showed its colors today,” she said. “It’s been playing brutally hard, especially the back nine. There was, like ,a four-group wait on a par-three — it was hard to stop golf balls for us.”
The challenge has drawn comparisons to major championship golf.
In fact, the tournament co-sanctioned by the LPGA and the Ladies European Tour is part of the Saudi-backed Global Series and features a total purse of $4 million with a $600,000 winner’s prize.
It has drawn a field featuring every player in the top 20.
Denmark’s Nana Koerstz Madsen and Japan’s 2025 LPGA Rookie of the Year Miyu Yamashita both shot 71 to share third place on three-under.
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Ireland’s Leona Maguire, who started the day tied for second, was alone on one-under after a two-over 74.
South Korean Kim Hyo-joo, coming off back-to-back wins at the Founders Cup and the Ford Championship, started the day tied with Maguire but endured a nightmare day, carding a seven-over par 79 to slide to a share of 17th.
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