Amateur Indian-American teen golfer lies tied 3rd at US Women's Open

Megha Ganne, an American teen amateur with Indian parentage, stayed in contention with a round of 72 that placed her Tied-3rd after the third round of the US Women's Open at the Olympic Club here.

The 17-year-old New Jersey-based amateur has now shot rounds of 67-71-72 for a total of three-under 210 and is four shots behind the leader Lexi Thompson (66).

Lying second is 36-hole leader Yuka Saso, who bogeyed her final hole to settle for an even-par 71 on the 6,338-yard Lake Course.

Ganne, four back, is tied with 2019 champion Jeongeun Lee (73).

Shanshan Feng (2-under; 211), Nasa Hataoka (212) and Megan Khang (212) are the only other competitors in red figures at a venue that has produced just four under-par scores over 72 holes in the five US Opens that have been contested here.

Thompson, 26, is playing her 15th straight US Women's Open since she first teed off at the Championship in 2007 at the age of 12 when she came through the qualifiers.

Yet, this is the first time she is holding the lead after any round. Thompson's bogey-free 66 was her career-best round in this championship. She is seven-under 206 for 54 holes.

Ganne is the youngest to play the weekend, while South Africa's Lee-Anne Pace, 40, is the oldest.

The four toughest holes this week are on Olympic's front nine.

Ganne, has been nearly flawless on that section of the Lake Course, going 23 consecutive holes without a bogey or worse before registering a 5 on the par-4 sixth on Saturday, the last competitor in the field to sustain an outward-nine blemish.

Thompson, an 11-time winner on the LPGA Tour has not won since the 2019 ShopRite Classic.

She does have a major (2014 ANA Inspiration) but if she were to win, she would become the sixth player to capture both the US Women's Open and US Girls' Junior titles, joining a stellar group that includes World Golf Hall of Famers Mickey Wright, Hollis Stacy, Amy Alcott and Inbee Park, as well as Ariya Jutanugarn.