Kingsmill Championship Saturday: Cristie Kerr's 2nd 66 of the Week Gives Her a Great Chance for a Hat Trick

Cristie Kerr roared to the front of the pack today at the Kingsmill Championship on the strength of her 2nd 66 of the week, but as great as she's been in every facet of her game through 54 holes, don't be handing her the 3rd title of her career at one of the LPGA's most popular stops just yet.  Only 2 shots behind her are Stacy Lewis and Suzann Pettersen, who have each fired 3 straight rounds in the 60s.  Angela Stanford had a chance to join them at -8, but she bogeyed the par-3 17th, while Ilhee Lee got it to -9 with a bogey-free 31 on the front, but went bogey-par-double-double-birdie-birdie to post a 38 on the back and fall 4 shots off the pace.  Two late bogeys dropped 1st- and 2nd-round leader Ariya Jutanugarn to -5, tied with Lizette Salas, who fired the low round of the day, a bogey-free 65.

There weren't too many other good rounds on moving day, however.  Sure, I'm super-excited that Laura Diaz posted a 5-birdie 67 to leap into the top 20, impressed at Jenny Shin's and Chella Choi's 68s, and psyched to see Mo Martin continue fine play this week (at -3, she's only 1 shot behind world #1 Inbee Park!), but I'm really bummed about Ai Miyazato's 76, Ji-Yai Shin's 75, Paula Creamer's 74, and Chie Arimura's 73, and not all that excited about where Shanshan Feng, So Yeon Ryu, Na Yeon Choi, Ya Ni Tseng, and Amy Yang find themselves with 18 holes left to play.

I know, it's been cool and breezy down there while we've had perfect weather up here in upstate NY.  (Not that it's helped my initial forays out onto the course for the first times this year the last two weekends, but at least I have the excuse of a nagging left shoulder injury I'm dealing with, a couple of lessons I'm trying to groove, and, oh yeah, my being a pretty mediocre amateur to begin with....)  Blame the good weather for drawing me out of the house with my folks rather than watching much of the Golf Channel coverage.  But from what I saw Cristie Kerr is finally rolling the ball the way she's capable of and looks quite ready to celebrate her sweet 16(th win) in Williamsburg.  Will Lewis, Pettersen, or Stanford play the spoiler?  Or will they all get passed by someone from further back in the pack who puts together a perfect final round?  Here are the pairings....