Aussie who ranks 100th in the world takes lead into Evian Championship final round

An extended Saturday in the Amundi Evian Championship, thanks to a suspension of the second round due to a lightning system, resulted in only one past major champion, Patty Tavatanakit, inside the top 10 going into the final round. World No. 100 Stephanie Kyriacou holds a one-shot lead at 14 under over Lauren Coughlin and Ayaka Furue.

After shooing 67 in the third round, Kyriacou, 23, will sleep on the first 54-hole LPGA lead of her career. The Australian has two victories on the Ladies European Tour, including an eight-stroke win as an amateur at the 2020 Australian Ladies Classic. She qualified for the LPGA through Q-Series in 2022, earning her career-best finish of T-4 in the 2023 Dana Open. Understandably, Kyriacou doesn't remember facing the nerves she's been feeling in a major.

"I think this is a different kind of nerves," Kyriacou said. "I think sometimes when you're near the cut line, you really want to make the cut, there is a few thoughts there. This is completely different, physical things like your heart rate goes up. You get a little bit numb. At least I do."

You would not guess that they have been difficult to manage with Kyriacou's consistent scoring of 66-66-67. She carded eight birdies on Saturday, including one to close out her hole-and-a-half remaining from Friday. After signing for a second-round 66 to trail Furue by two, Kyriacou was able to unwind by going home to take a half-hour nap with the four hours before her next tee time.

The first four holes of Kyriacou's third round were the same as her second. Kyriacou had a three-putt bogey on the first, then birdied Nos. 2 through 4 to get within one of Furue. She tied the 36-hole leader for the first time with a birdie on the 11th, then took her first outright lead with another birdie on No. 15. She broke a tie with Furue on the par-5 18th with a closing 4.

Kyriacou has leaned on longtime caddie Weiliang Wang, who sometimes keeps things light with a stream of swear words. "If you didn't give a crap about everything else, how would you play this?" Kyriacou explained. "Along those lines. Yeah, that gets me through it."

Furue had been in control in the Evian, going bogey-free through the first 46 holes of the championship. She got up and down four times on the front nine of her third round before bogeys on the 11th and 13th sandwiched led to a one-under 70.

Furue first emerged on the LPGA major stage during the Evian in 2021, the year before she joined the tour, when she finished in fourth place. She earned her lone title during her rookie season in the 2022 Scottish Open. The World No. 21 has consistently put herself in contention since, earning 18 top-10s, but has struggled to find the winner's circle. Her best chance came when she held a two-shot 54-hole lead at the HSBC Women's World Championship in March before a closing 75 pushed Furue to T-8.

Lauren Coughlin, 31, continues her banner LPGA year. She has notched three of her six career top-10s in 2024, including a career-best finish of T-3 in the Chevron Championship. But the Evian is a tournament that has bedeviled the Virginia Cavalier, as she missed the cut in all five of her previous appearances in the major.

Coughlin felt her inability to hit on sidehill lies was exposed at Lancaster, this year's U.S. Women's Open venue, where she missed the weekend. Her caddie at the time, Terry McNamara, recommended she focus on practicing those odd lies to be prepared for the sidehill lie-laden Evian Resort Course. She noticed the work click into place during her pro-am round on Wednesday.

"I'm not afraid of Evian anymore," Coughlin said.

Coughlin put her husband, John Pond, back on the bag this week. They worked together during the Chevron, but Pond worked for Gina Kim in the past five events while Coughlin had McNamara looping for her. The husband-wife chemistry was on display on the par-5 18th Saturday, with Pond asking if she was committed multiple times over a below her feet 228-yard fairway wood that needed to carry over 200 yards to clear the water in front of the green. He asked her to promise that she was committed to the shot. She said yes and knocked it to 18 feet.

They high-fived as she walked down the fairway before Coughlin made the eagle putt, closing out a six-under 65. A victory would have Coughlin join Angela Stanford, who is playing this week as the final major of her career, as the only two Americans to win the Evian since it became a major.

Evian's scoring volatility provides hope for those lurking. Two-time LPGA winner Pajaree Anannarukarn (10 under) posted a four-under 67 to be the closest of the chasers, with a three-way tie at nine under between Ally Ewing, Hye-Jin Choi, and Tavatanakit, the 2021 Chevron Championship winner. Ewing appears most threatening of the trio, as her bogey-free seven-under 64 Saturday puts the three-time winner in position to extend her top-five streak to four.

World No. 1 Nelly Korda, who had top-10 finishes in her last two Evian starts, snapped a streak of three missed cuts. The six-time winner this season shot 70 on Saturday and is tied for 43rd.