Nelly Korda lurking closely behind unproven leaders with the biggest trophy in women’s golf on the line

ERIN Wis. — Moving day at the U.S. Women’s Open revealed an eclectic collection of players who have a shot to win the coveted major; a Swede, a player who started her year with an emergency appendectomy, three Japanese players (one of whom has already won a major this year), major champions and World No. 1 Nelly Korda.

It all should add up to a dramatic final round on Sunday at Erin Hills Golf Course.

Maja Stark, from Sweden, shot a two-under 70 to wrestle the lead away from Japanese sensation Mao Saigo, the Chevron Championship winner. Stark has a one-shot lead over Julia Lopez Ramirez, a 22-year-old Spaniard who started her year with surgery.

This is Stark’s first 54-hole lead at a major. She tied for second place at the Chevron Championship last year and will look to close it out here in Wisconsin, but heading into Sunday with the lead at Erin Hills will be unlike anything she’s ever experienced.

Stark, however, believes she has the right mindset to thrive under pressure. She’ll have plenty of time to think about the lead as well as she’ll be in the final group that goes off at 1:10 p.m. local time.

“I’m probably going to go work out [Sunday] morning to try to get some nerves out, but I think just keep having fun with it because when I play scared, that's when I mess up, and you can't really play scared at a course like this,” said Stark, who is aiming to become the sixth woman from her native country to win a major championship.

Korda has won two majors but never the U.S. Women’s Open, saying earlier this week that her relationship with this one is “complicated.” After winning seven times last year, she’s yet to win this year. She shot 67 in the second round to put herself into contention, but her third round got off to a rocky start with four bogeys on the front nine. Her putter, which was working so well a day before, was the culprit. She turned it around at the turn, made three birdies and no bogeys on the back nine and finished with a one-over 73 to end in sixth place, three shots behind Stark.

“I just needed, honestly, a putt to go in. I chipped one up close. It wasn't really the longest of putts, but at least some momentum, some positivity to turn it around, and then two-putted on the next hole with it being reachable which was actually not the easiest of putts,” Korda said. “I was happy to kind of rally back on the back nine after having such a poor start.”

Her final birdie putt on 18 rolled around the cup and in but it was a heart-stopping adventure. She smiled and wagged her finger after. Even Korda thought she was going to miss it as it was on its way to the hole.

“It was funny,” she said. “Actually the greens are tricky out here. Sometimes they're a little hard to read, especially today on some of the ridges where it can break left, and it can break right. That was kind of one of those putts where you're like, OK, straight in is a little too simple.”

Saigo is in a three-way tie for third, two shots back. She had the 18- and 36-hole leads. She shot a second-round 66, the best Friday round. She played well Saturday but stumbled at the end to lose her share of the lead when she bogeyed the final two holes.

“The course condition hasn't really changed too much, but as I mentioned before it’s the pin position that was very difficult,” Saigo said through a translator. “In total, I felt like today was a difficult day.”

Lopez Ramirez shot rounds of 68 in the first and third rounds and she’s alone in second, one shot back. Her 68 on Saturday was the best round of the day.

“I think for me it's mainly like just keeping in the moment, be very pressing on it,” Lopez Ramirez said. “Mistakes are going to be made, bad shots are going to happen. So for me it was keeping my steps shot by shot and just playing with what I have. Sometimes the wind take it, the greens are playing fast.”

Joining Saigo are countrywomen rookie Rio Takeda, who won this year at Blue Bay LPGA, and Hinako Shibuno, who won the AIG Women’s Open in 2019. Shibuno finished as the runner-up in the U.S. Women’s Open last year, which was won by Yuka Saso, who missed the cut this year.

Having that experience of closing out a major is huge. And Shibuno’s Smiling Cinderella nickname is another positive in her bag.

“Maybe my advantage a just as little as one millimeter,” Shibuno said. “I'll be very nervous from the beginning to the end. So I might not be able to take advantage being runner-up last year.”