Canada's Henderson climbs to 3rd heading into final round of LPGA Meijer Classic

Defending champion Nelly Korda made a 22-foot eagle putt on the par-5 18th for a 6-under 66 and the third-round lead Saturday in the LPGA Meijer Classic, with six majors champions topping the leaderboard.

Korda takes lead from Kupcho with 6-under 66 3rd round

The Associated Press · Posted: Jun 18, 2022 6:58 PM EDT | Last Updated: June 19, 2022

Canada's Brooke Henderson watches her tee shot on the 8th hole during round three of the Meijer LPGA Classic on Saturday in Belmont, Michigan. (Rey Del Rio/Getty Images)

Making her second start since returning from a four-month break because of a blood clot in her left arm, Korda also eagled the par-5 eighth and had three birdies and a bogey. She was at 18-under 198 at Blythefield Country Club.

"I'm just happy to be out there playing again," Korda said. "I'm in contention, but, again, I've been in this position before. Thankfully, I can lean on that."

Canadian Brooke Henderson, the ShopRite LPGA Classic winner last Sunday in New Jersey and 2017 and 2019 champion at Blythefield, was third at 15 under after a 67.

"Wasn't my best day out there, but still shot minus 5 and still not too far away from the top," Henderson said. "So, looking forward to tomorrow."

WATCH | Brooke Henderson 3 shots off lead following 3rd round:

Brooke Henderson 3 off the lead through 3 rounds at Meijer LPGA Classic

2 years ago

3:28

Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., sits 3rd after shooting a 5 under 67 in the 3rd round of the Meijer LPGA Classic.

Jennifer Kupcho, two strokes ahead of playing partner Korda entering the day, had a 69 to drop a shot back. She rebounded from her first bogey of the week — on the par-4 17th — with a two-putt birdie on 18.

"I wasn't playing as well as I thought I should," Kupcho said. "I think after a little bit of a rough start, missed a couple fairways, I kind of set a goal for myself to shoot 3 under and I did do that. So glad to have done that."

The second-ranked Korda tied for eighth two weeks ago in the U.S. Women's Open in her first event since early February. She also is the defending champion next week in the KPGA Women's PGA at Congressional.

"I knew that I had enough practice under my belt and it was just more of like, `Can I put that into tournament golf kind of play,"' Korda said. "So far, I've played pretty well and hopefully I can continue."

What a stacked leaderboard 👀<br><br>With an eagle on 18, <a href="https://twitter.com/NellyKorda?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@NellyKorda</a> takes the solo lead heading into the final day of the <a href="https://twitter.com/MeijerLPGA?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@MeijerLPGA</a>!<br><br>FULL LEADERBOARD ⬇️ <a href="https://t.co/C44VBEfuxk">https://t.co/C44VBEfuxk</a>
—@LPGA

Kupcho won the major tournament at Mission Hills in the California desert in early April for her first LPGA Tour victory.

"The whole top of the leaderboard are all good players," Kupcho said. "Anything can happen. Anything can happen on the back nine. There is a couple reachable par 5s."

Lexi Thompson, the 2015 winner, had a 68 to get to 14 under.

"I play this golf course pretty aggressively," Thompson said." Hit a lot of drivers, take a lot of corners on. So, probably not play any more aggressively, except maybe fire at a few more pins. All depends on pin locations, too."