Ryu Hae-ran has 18 holes to recover from events in the third round of the Women’s Open. Her stumble at Royal Lytham and St Annes would have counted as one of the most remarkable in recent major championship memory had it taken place a day later. Saturday proved it is never, ever over on terrain such as this. Adam Scott can verify that, such was his horrible capitulation here as Ernie Els claimed the Open of 2012. There must be something about Lytham.
Ryu is looking to set an extraordinary record of three major wins in as many starts. Early in the third round, she looked firmly on course for that. The South Korean marched to a four-shot lead after four. Her advantage was the same on the 7th tee. By the time she walked from the 18th green, Ryu was three adrift of Yealimi Noh. Quite the turnaround. How damaging? That remains to be seen.
