Pressel putts her way to a 65 on moving day

SOUTHPORT, England - The best Morgan Pressel has ever finished in a Women's British Open is 42nd and after a bogey-bogey start in Saturday's third round at Royal Birkdale dropped her to six over par, there was no reason to think she'd improve on that mark. Eight birdies and an eagle later she was signing for a 65 and had finished 54 holes at three-under-par 213 nearly an hour before leader Yani Tseng teed off at eight under. [#image: /photos/55ad91ebadd713143b4316b2]|||GDWpresselricoh.gif|||*Pressel moves into a tie for 6th after her impressive putting exhibition Saturday. (Photo by Christopher Lee/Getty Images) *

As Pressel emerged from the scoring trailer behind the 18th green, Paula Creamer, who had posted a 70 in the group in front of Pressel to get to two over par for three rounds, said: "Good playing, seven under, jeez!" Which prompted Pressel to reply: "I putted like Paula Creamer today." In fact, Pressel putted like Creamer, Cristie Kerr, Tiger Woods and Jack Nicklaus all rolled into one, needing only 25 strokes on the green. By her own estimate, her birdies on Nos. 13 and 16 and eagle on No. 17 were all over 40 feet. There was also a 30-footer and a 20-footer thrown in for good measure. "I just made a lot of putts today," Pressel said in somewhat of an understatement. "I put myself right back in the hunt. Some days it just goes well. I need another one tomorrow." Asked what she was thinking after she bogeyed the first two holes, both par-4s on which she need to hit 3-wood for her second shot, Pressel said: "I hate those two holes." But she was motivated by something she had seen in the promotional material put out by the folks who run the Ricoh Women's British Open. "I was looking at their booklet and I saw that my best finish in a British Open is 42nd," Pressel said. "That's pretty embarrassing."  There was nothing embarrassing about her performance on Saturday, much of which was played in a cold drizzle buffeted by blustery breezes. After the opening bogeys she birdied 3, 4, 7 and 9 to turn in 33. She gave a stroke back with a bogey on No. 12 then birdied 13, 14 and 16 before eagling 17 and closing with another birdie, playing the last six holes in six under par for an incoming 32. "If you hit greens out there you can score pretty well," said Pressel. That's certainly true if you are making putts halfway across England. Another 65 on Sunday and Pressel just might be adding a British Open trophy to the Kraft Nabisco Championship she captured in 2007 as her first major. --Ron Sirak