Minjee Lee has 1st bogey-free round at windy Women's PGA to take 4-shot lead into final day

FRISCO, Texas (AP) — Minjee Lee knows how to play in windy conditions having growing up in Australia and now living in North Texas. She also has experience winning majors.

The two-time major champion is in position for another one after the first bogey-free round for anyone during the wind-swept KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. Her 3-under 69 in the third round Saturday pushed her into the lead, four strokes ahead of Jeeno Thitikul.

“I’m constantly practicing in windy conditions ... It is windy, but not this windy, and it’s really consistent as well,” Lee said. “Yes, I can hit a knock-down shot, but you also have to play the wind. You have to play so much extra out here that you have to be a little more creative.”

Lee was at 6-under 210 after beginning the round three strokes behind Thitikul, the world’s No. 2-ranked player who led alone at the end of each of the first two days. Lee went ahead to stay with a 2-foot par at the 405-yard 12th hole when Thitikul had her second consecutive bogey, and fourth of the day on way to a round of 76.

“She played absolutely an `A’ game for sure,” Thitikul said. “I never saw her miss today at all.”

When Lee did miss, she was 7-for-7 scrambling.

Far from tree-lined Sahalee outside Seattle where the Women’s PGA was last year, Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco is much more open and exposed to the ever-present Texas wind that was the strongest it had been all week. There were gusts of more than 30 mph Saturday, with much the same forecast for Sunday. Temperatures were again in the mid-90s.

Nelly Korda, the world’s top-ranked player, described the conditions as “just brutal” after her round of 72 that began with back-to-back bogeys. She finished with five birdies and five bogeys and is tied for sixth at 2-over 218.

Lee and Thitikul, seeking her first major title, were the only players still under par and will play together again Sunday. Lexi Thompson (75), after a triple-bogey start, was tied for third at 1 over with Hye Jin Choi (72) and Miyu Yamashita (73).

Thitikul, from Thailand, had the only birdie Saturday among the 78 players on the 172-yard, par-3 eighth hole, which generally plays downwind and where only 29% of the tee shots all week have stayed on the green. That 13-foot birdie was her first of the day and got her to 5 under, two strokes ahead of Lee.

But Thitikul’s lead was gone after back-to-back bogeys on the back side. She pushed a 4-foot par chance past the hole at the 383-yard 11th, her first miss inside 5 feet this week. Then her drive at the 417-yard 12th hole went way right into a penalty area.

Lee, who won the 2022 U.S. Women’s Open and 2021 Evian Championship in France, was steady Saturday with eight consecutive pars before a 4-foot birdie at the 487-yard ninth hole. Her other birdies were an 18-footer at the 515-yard, par-5 14th and a 1 1/2-foot at the bunker-surrounded 236-yard par 4 15th hole.

While acknowledging that a four-stroke lead “feels really big,” Lee isn’t taking anything for granted.

“Obviously, major Sunday is a different story. This is round three, so I think, you know, I have to still dig deep and post a score, even with a four-shot lead,” she said. “So I’m just going to put my head down and just work on the things that I can do and do it to the best of my ability.”

Thitikul three-putt from 50 feet at No. 14 was her third bogey in a four-hole stretch.

“Definitely frustrated about the result today a little bit, like not really making putts like the first two days,” Thitikul said. “But like still on the positive side that, just two players making under par after three rounds, and I’m one.”

Semi-retired Thompson, in the second-to-last group, hit her tee shot into the fairway on the 517-yard par-5 first hole, a 207-yard drive into the wind. But she topped her second shot that went only 117 yards, then shanked her next shot right, a ball that was never found for a penalty on way to triple bogey. She followed with another bogey on the second hole, but had two birdies and only one bogey the rest of the way.

Thompson, playing for only the seventh time in 16 tournaments this season, won her only major in the 2014 Kraft Nabisco Championship, but her 13 top-five finishes in majors since 2013 are the most by any player and among her 20 top-10 finishes in those events.

LPGA rookie Rio Takeda opened with a bogey 6 at the first hole after starting the round tied with with Lee for second place. Takeda later had a pair of double bogeys/

Grace Kim had the best round of the day with a 68 that included six birdies and two bogeys, moving up from a tie for 68th to tied for 10th. Minjee Lee and Andrea (71) had the only other under-par rounds. Kim, among 11 players who got to the weekend right on the 7-over cut, teed off at 6:55 a.m. local time, six hours before the final group did.

There was even a hole-in-one, Brianna Do acing the 150-yard fourth hole.

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Jeeno Thitikul reacts after her shot on the 18th hole during the third round of the Women's PGA Championship golf tournament Saturday, June 21, 2025, in Frisco, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Lexi Thompson looks for her ball after an errant shot on the first hole during the third round of the Women's PGA Championship golf tournament Saturday, June 21, 2025, in Frisco, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Jeeno Thitikul, right, and Minjee Lee prepare to putt on the first green during the third round of the Women's PGA Championship golf tournament, Saturday, June 21, 2025, in Frisco, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Minjee Lee waves after playing the 18th hole during the third round of the Women's PGA Championship golf tournament Saturday, June 21, 2025, in Frisco, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

Minjee Lee hits a tee shot on the second hole during the third round of the Women's PGA Championship golf tournament Saturday, June 21, 2025, in Frisco, Texas. (AP Photo/LM Otero)

DUBAI, United Arab Emirates (AP) — U.S. President Donald Trump said Iran wants to negotiate with Washington after his threat to strike the Islamic Republic over its bloody crackdown on protesters, a move coming as activists said Monday the death toll in the nationwide demonstrations rose to at least 544.

Iran had no immediate reaction to the news, which came after the foreign minister of Oman — long an interlocutor between Washington and Tehran — traveled to Iran this weekend. It also remains unclear just what Iran could promise, particularly as Trump has set strict demands over its nuclear program and its ballistic missile arsenal, which Tehran insists is crucial for its national defense.

Meanwhile Monday, Iran called for pro-government demonstrators to head to the streets in support of the theocracy, a show of force after days of protests directly challenging the rule of 86-year-old Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. Iranian state television aired chants from the crowd, who shouted “Death to America!” and “Death to Israel!”

Trump and his national security team have been weighing a range of potential responses against Iran including cyberattacks and direct strikes by the U.S. or Israel, according to two people familiar with internal White House discussions who were not authorized to comment publicly and spoke on condition of anonymity.

“The military is looking at it, and we’re looking at some very strong options,” Trump told reporters on Air Force One on Sunday night. Asked about Iran’s threats of retaliation, he said: “If they do that, we will hit them at levels that they’ve never been hit before.”

Trump said that his administration was in talks to set up a meeting with Tehran, but cautioned that he may have to act first as reports of the death toll in Iran mount and the government continues to arrest protesters.

“I think they’re tired of being beat up by the United States,” Trump said. “Iran wants to negotiate.”

He added: “The meeting is being set up, but we may have to act because of what’s happening before the meeting. But a meeting is being set up. Iran called, they want to negotiate.”

Iran through country's parliamentary speaker warned Sunday that the U.S. military and Israel would be “legitimate targets” if America uses force to protect demonstrators.

More than 10,600 people also have been detained over the two weeks of protests, said the U.S.-based Human Rights Activists News Agency, which has been accurate in previous unrest in recent years and gave the death toll. It relies on supporters in Iran crosschecking information. It said 496 of the dead were protesters and 48 were with security forces.

With the internet down in Iran and phone lines cut off, gauging the demonstrations from abroad has grown more difficult. The Associated Press has been unable to independently assess the toll. Iran’s government has not offered overall casualty figures.

Those abroad fear the information blackout is emboldening hard-liners within Iran’s security services to launch a bloody crackdown. Protesters flooded the streets in the country’s capital and its second-largest city on Saturday night into Sunday morning. Online videos purported to show more demonstrations Sunday night into Monday, with a Tehran official acknowledging them in state media.

In Tehran, a witness told the AP that the streets of the capital empty at the sunset call to prayers each night. By the Isha, or nighttime prayer, the streets are deserted.

Part of that stems from the fear of getting caught in the crackdown. Police sent the public a text message that warned: “Given the presence of terrorist groups and armed individuals in some gatherings last night and their plans to cause death, and the firm decision to not tolerate any appeasement and to deal decisively with the rioters, families are strongly advised to take care of their youth and teenagers.”

Another text, which claimed to come from the intelligence arm of the paramilitary Revolutionary Guard, also directly warned people not to take part in demonstrations.

“Dear parents, in view of the enemy’s plan to increase the level of naked violence and the decision to kill people, ... refrain from being on the streets and gathering in places involved in violence, and inform your children about the consequences of cooperating with terrorist mercenaries, which is an example of treason against the country,” the text warned.

The witness spoke to the AP on condition of anonymity due to the ongoing crackdown.

The demonstrations began Dec. 28 over the collapse of the Iranian rial currency, which trades at over 1.4 million to $1, as the country’s economy is squeezed by international sanctions in part levied over its nuclear program. The protests intensified and grew into calls directly challenging Iran’s theocracy.

Nikhinson reported from aboard Air Force One.

In this frame grab from video obtained by the AP outside Iran, a masked demonstrator holds a picture of Iran's Crown Prince Reza Pahlavi during a protest in Tehran, Iran, Friday, January. 9, 2026. (UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran shows protesters taking to the streets despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026.(UGC via AP)

In this frame grab from footage circulating on social media from Iran showed protesters once again taking to the streets of Tehran despite an intensifying crackdown as the Islamic Republic remains cut off from the rest of the world in Tehran, Iran, Saturday Jan. 10, 2026. (UGC via AP)