LPGA Kerr has second 63 to lead by four shots
Her 54-hole total of 21-under 195 is the best on tour this season.
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) -- Cristie Kerr shot her second straight 9-under 63 on Saturday to take a four-stroke lead into the final round of the State Farm Classic.
Kerr, seeking her third victory of the year and fourth in eight full seasons on the LPGA Tour, had a 21-under 195 total on the Rail Golf Course -- the best 54-hole score on the tour this season. She also moved into position to threaten the 72-hole mark of 27 under set by Annika Sorenstam in the 2001 Standard Register PING.
"I'm not trying to shoot this low, I promise," Kerr said. "You'll shoot as low as you can shoot if you do all of the (little) things well."
She made a long eagle putt on the par-5 fifth hole and also had eight birdies and a bogey Saturday, playing her first seven holes in 6 under.
Kim falls to second
Christina Kim, who took a four-stroke lead into the round, shot a 71 to finish four strokes back at 17 under. Jennifer Rosales (68) was 15 under, and Canadian Nancy Harvey had a career-best 64 to join Mi Hyun Kim (66), Hee-Won Han (68) and Suzann Pettersen (69) at 13 under.
Kim, a 20-year-old Californian looking for her LPGA Tour victory was frustrated by the slow pace of play, with the final threesome of Kim, Kerr and Rosales spending more than five hours on the course.
"You can't expect it to last forever," Kim said.
Kerr won the Takefuji Classic in March and the Shoprite Classic in June and is fifth on the money list with $806,936, but has missed the cuts in her last two tournaments and hasn't finished better than 11th in two months.
"With a positive attitude I started to play better, and it kind of snowballed into this," Kerr said.
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