Bjerkaas Stays Ahead in PDGA World Championships Despite Scuffling Round

Paige Bjerkaas is still standing tall in the Open Women's division at the PDGA Professional Disc Golf World Championships, despite her best efforts to falter on Friday. The 21-year-old American maintained her lead after round three, but it was a tough outing for the young player, who scuffled through Brewster Ridge's tightly wooded fairways to card a 4-over par 65.

Bjerkaas' score may have been two shots worse than her previous day's effort, but she still leads the field by a single shot. Sarah Hokom is hot on her heels, shaving one stroke off Bjerkaas' lead with a 3-over par 64 that brought her total to a 6-over par 191.

Rebecca Cox fell back to third place after carding a 6-over par 67, while Kristin Tattar made a thrilling comeback to join the top three. The Estonian player had a rough start but finished strong with four birdies in five holes on the back nine. She leapfrogged defending champion Paige Pierce, who struggled again and fell to fifth place.

Bjerkaas' own game plan was put to the test as she faced adversity on several holes. Double bogeys crept into her score, but she managed to stay ahead of Hokom and Cox by scoring well late in the round. Her ability to recover from mistakes will be crucial over the final two rounds.

Sarah Hokom spoke about the difficulties she faced during the round, citing a "case of the spitouts" that affected several players, including herself and Pierce. The veteran player acknowledged that Bjerkaas' confidence has grown significantly this week and is aware that she won't change her game plan to try and apply pressure on the young leader.

Meanwhile, Kristin Tattar credited her late-game surge to a change in mentality. She focused on being more aggressive with her approach shots, which helped her get into scoring positions. Sara Lamberson also had a standout round, shooting 1-under par 60 to move up the leaderboard and put herself within striking distance of making it to Sunday.

The Open Women's lead card will tee off at 9:20 a.m. ET on Saturday, with action being live streamed on SmashboxxTV. As for Bjerkaas, she remains confident in her game plan, planning to stick to a conservative approach that has served her well so far.

This article was compiled from disc golf coverage with AI assistance. Source: pdga.com — https://www.pdga.com/news/bjerkaas-holds-serve-brewster-ridge