Kang among 3 tied for lead at Women’s Australian Open

The world golf number one, Lydia Ko, has fallen short of defending her title at the Women’s Australian Open.

The 23-year-old from Tokyo was virtually unheard of in these parts before this week, but not now.

The Japanese player closed the door on Ko’s chances with a monster 15-metre birdie putt at the 17th when she was three shots ahead of the New Zealand ace.

Ko bogeyed the last, and so did Nomura, who finished seven-under for the day and 16-under overall.

Nomura had just 26 putts, ramming them in from everywhere.

She left her only mistake until the last, and by then, Haru Nomura already knew that the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open was hers.

It allowed Nomura the luxury of her only bogey at the par-four 18th when she found the front-right sand trap and failed to get up and down.

Kang, the 2010 and 2011 U.S. Amateur champion, is chasing her first win on the LPGA Tour.

Her explanation was that she played the course, and not the opponent.

Karrie Webb’s one under for the round was enough to move the Australian to a third-placed finish at her home event, but her final score of nine under was some way off the pace set by the brilliant Nomura.

She’s relishing the prospect of a sixth national crown after posting another solid two-under round of 70 at The Grange on Saturday.

The 1996 champion moved to 10 under when she rolled in her third birdie putt of the day at the 10th before dropping shots at three of the next five holes, but the 46-year-old insisted afterwards: “At least I have not played myself out of it”.

Victorian Su Oh has charged up the leaderboard this morning to finish at six under, the next best Australian behind Webb. “It’s going to be fun, I’ll try to enjoy it, obviously in the final groups there might be a bit more tension, but I’m going to try and enjoy it, ” she said.

Lee, 19, couldn’t get her putts to drop from there as she parred the next five holes before another birdie on the 10th to take her to five under for the tournament.

Webb was “frustrated” after a tough day on the greens, yet encouraged by her ball-striking.