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PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico — Jenny Bae started with three straight birdies and had a one-shot lead that could have been larger except for a soft finish Saturday in the Mexico Riviera Maya Open.
Bae didn’t make another birdies after the third hole. What held her back were having to settle for pars on easy scoring holes, and then closing with a bogey when it took her two shots to get out of the crushed coral left of the green on the par-5 18th.
Bae was at 7-under 209, and the LPGA rookie faces a big test Sunday — along with just about everyone else chasing her — in a bid for her first LPGA victory.
“I didn’t finish as well as I wanted to, but that’s OK,” Bae said. “Just tells me that I need to fight more the last 18 holes.”
The El Camaleon course at Mayakoba was set up for scoring, with the tees moved up on the par-4 17th to make it reachable with a fairway metal, and the par-5 closing hole.
Yahui Zhang of China finished birdie-birdie for a 68 and was at 6-under 210, along with Chisato Iwai of Japan, who also birdied the last two holes.
Another shot back was Gabriela Ruffels of Australia, who had the strongest closing kick of all. Ruffels was 3 over for her round when she holed a 15-foot birdie putt on the 14th hole. On the par-4 16th, the toughest on the back nine, she holed a birdie putt from 20 feet.
Ruffels left her tee shot just in front of the green on the 17th, pitched to a back pin some 4 feet away for birdie, and then made it three straight at the end with a birdie at the 18th. That allowed her to salvage a 71 and left her very much in the mix.
“I was just proud of the way I kind of stuck in there and felt like I gave myself the chance to kind of come back,” Ruffels said. “To finish the way I did is really good and some momentum into tomorrow.”
Also finishing strong was Miranda Wang of China, even if it was to keep her head above water. She was five shots behind when Wang started missing to the left — a tee shot into the bushes on the 16th that led to a penalty shot, a tee shot on the 17th into the water left of the green.
Both times, Wang made 15-foot putts to save par, and then after pulling her approach left of the 18th green, she got that up-and-down for birdie for a 73. She was among seven players at 4-under 212, three shots out of the lead.
Bae was pleased to be in front, though she missed an opportunity to have a little more room for error. She missed a 6-foot birdie putt on the par-5 13th. She was in good position off the 17th, just short of the green, but her pitch was strong and too far right and rolled through to the collar. She had to settle for par.
On the 18th, she pulled her approach into a patch of crushed coral to a short-sided pin. She didn’t catch enough of the golf ball and left it in the sandy area, then caught all ball and sent it 25 feet past the pin on the collar. Two putts from there led to bogey.
“I feel like I definitely left a few birdies out there, but it’s OK because I know those chances that I missed today could also be the birdies that I get tomorrow,” Bae said.
This is the final week before the U.S. Women’s Open, and the LPGA’s return to Mexico for the first time since 2017 did not attract a strong field with Charley Hull at No. 15 the highest-ranked player.
But it’s a great opportunity for everyone else. The top 11 players on the leaderboard — everyone at 4 under and better — are going for their first LPGA win.
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