Samantha Thavasa Ladies Saturday: Junko Omote Follows up 63 with 65 to Open Up 5-Shot Lead

Junko Omote is -16 through 36 holes at the Samantha Thavasa Ladies, 5-up on Yumiko Yoshida and 6-up on Hyun-Ju Shin heading the final round.  It's looking like the Japanese veterans will be chalking this one up, holding off both youngsters (like Mamiko Higa, 66/-9, and Ritsuko Ryu, 69/-8) and Korean stars (like Mi-Jeong Jeon, 68/-7, Sun-Ju Ahn, 67/-6, and Hyo-Joo Kim, 68/-5).  Omote has fired the 2 lowest rounds of the week on consecutive days (63-65) and shows no signs of slowing down.  Meanwhile, money-list leader Rikako Morita could manage only an even-par round today.  Although she barely made the cut, as did living legend Yuri Fudoh, legend-in-training Sakura Yokomine, KLPGA transplant Bo-Mee Lee, and LPGA transplant Teresa Lu, they are so far behind Omote they're playing for top 20s at best.  Unless the pressure of winning twice in 1 season for the 1st time in a 15+-year professional career derails Omote tomorrow, she'll notch her 4th career victory and move into the top 10 on the JLPGA money list.  Pretty head stuff.  Let's see if she can do it in style!