Nelly Korda responds to her careless three-putt bogey by teasing in a 15-foot right-to-left slider on 7. Just enough energy for the ball to topple in, and her birdie means we’ve now got two former world number ones and the current holder of that spot in a three-way share of the lead!

-6: Korda (7), Jiyai Shin (6), Vu (6)

The temperature is dropping, but the tournament is beginning to heat up nonetheless. Birdie for Ariya Jutanugarn on 12 to rise to -3. Coming the other way, Mao Saigo, who lips out from close range on 11 to hand back the shot she’d just picked up.

… but how about this for bouncing back? Jenny Shin has responded brilliantly to that double bogey at 4. She sends her approach at 6 to ten feet, and rattles in the putt with great confidence. That’s back-to-back birdies, and it’s been quite the ride for the 31-year-old Korean so far: three birdies and a double bogey in six holes. She’s -5 … alongside her partner Nelly Korda, who carelessly three-putts. Meanwhile a walk-in birdie from 20 feet at 9 for last year’s PGA champion Ruoning Yin, and the 21-year-old from China is suddenly right in this!

-6: Vu (5), Jiyai Shin (5)
-5: Ko (7), Jenny Shin (6), Korda (6)
-4: Yin (9)

Bounceback birdie for Lottie Woad! The world’s leading amateur responds to that ugly double at 8 with birdie at 9, back into red figures at -1, her cushion over Smyth Salver clubhouse leader Julia Lopez Ramirez now four shots. A huge back nine coming up.

Things are finally beginning to happen: players are making birdies, making moves. Mao Saigo at 10; that’s her fourth in six holes, and the 22-year-old from Japan, who already has a tie for third at the Evian on her resumé, is properly in the mix now at -4. Her compatriot Akie Iwai is also on a birdie blitz, making her fifth of the day at 16; she’s -2. And Casandra Alexander follows up birdie at 8 with another at 9 … only to then drop a stroke at 10; she’s -2 as well.

The brilliant, mercurial, ever-entertaining Lexi Thompson bids farewell to major-championship golf. She stops, waves and smiles on the Swilcan Bridge, grimaces briefly as she misses a short par putt, then waves and smiles again as she signs off with a disappointing final round of 76 but with the love of the gallery ringing in her ears. What a player she is, what a contribution she made, what stories she told. She retires as an all-time great, unquestionably so, despite somehow only winning the one major title, the 2014 Dinah Shore. Golf’s funny (and cruel) like that.

A touch of farce at the 5th. Jenny Shin prepares to hit a chip from the front-right edge of the green, but is forced to stop when a ball from the 13th rolls across her path. Having already had to wait for aeons to play the hole, this is the final straw, and she strides off to mark the errant ball herself. Once reset, and perhaps tiring of the hole, she seriously underhits her chip … but then walks in the 20-foot birdie putt! Not bad at all, especially after her wayward tee shot. Nelly Korda makes birdie too, and the pair will be much happier now. Worth the wait, huh?

-6: Korda (5), Vu (4), Jiyai Shin (4)
-5: Ko (5)
-4: Jenny Shin (5)

A horrible double bogey for Lottie Woad on the par-three 8th. She sends her tee shot up against the face of a pot bunker and is forced to chop out sideways. She drops back to level par for the tournament, and with fellow amateur Julia Lopez Ramirez safely in the clubhouse at +3, perhaps the race for the Smyth Salver isn’t quite done and dusted yet.

Ariya Jutanugarn hasn’t done much in the majors recently. No top-ten finish since tying for tenth in this tournament back in 2021. But with two majors to her name, the 28-year-old Thai has the game, and she’s rediscovering it here, raking in a 40-footer across 9 to hit the turn in 35 and rise to -2.

Mao Saigo and Casandra Alexander take turns to rake in long putts at the par-three 8th. Alexander’s in particular is a stunner, from the fringe, the best part of 80 feet away. She blows out her cheeks, a little chuckle at the audacity of it. Birdies for both, and suddenly the pair are in contention, Saigo at -3, Alexander at -2.

After a 20-minute wait on the 5th tee, an admirably calm Nelly Korda is able to hit her drive. She finds the semi-rough down the left. Jenny Shin, who has had all that time to stew over her double bogey, hoicks miles left. A penny to hear their internal monologues.

Lilia Vu sends her second at 4 to eight feet, but the birdie putt dies off to the right. Jiyai Shin, after taking an age over a three-footer, makes par too. The pair walk across to the 5th tee, where there are already two groups waiting. The pace of play is glacial. No wonder Nelly Korda, who likes to get on with it, looks distinctly bored, bordering on unimpressed.

… so of course having just reported that, Esther Henseleit, the Olympic silver medalist, is forced to come out sideways from a high-faced bunker at 5 and slips back to level par for her round, and -2 overall. Many apologies for alerting the golfing gods, Esther.

Of the leading players, only Lydia Ko and Esther Henseleit are under par for their round at the moment. With the wind blowing, the Old Course’s defences are up, and it’s a bit of a war of attrition right now.

-6: Vu (3), Jiyai Shin (3)
-5: Korda (4), Ko (4)
-3: Yin (5), Pano (4), Henseleit (4), Jenny Shin (4)

Having found the bushes down the right of 4, Jenny Shin takes an unplayable. After dropping she finds the green with her third, but only just, leaving herself a 50-footer for par. Three putts later, that’s a costly double bogey, and she slips back down the standings to -3.

Perhaps it’s going to happen for the former world number one Lydia Ko, though. She steers in a big left-to-right swinger on 4 for her first birdie of the day. Meanwhile a careless three-putt bogey for Jiyai Shin on 3, and suddenly the top of the leaderboard takes on a different complexion.

-6: Vu (3), Jiyai Shin (3)
-5: Ko (4), Jenny Shin (3), Korda (3)

Trouble for Jenny Shin at 4, as she carves her drive into bushes down the right. Nelly Korda splits the fairway. Meanwhile up on 6, some bother for Charley Hull, who like Shin finds trouble off the tee. Chopping her third shot into the green from thick rough, she nearly slam-dunks home for birdie, but the ball bounds 20 feet past and she’s not able to make the saving putt coming back. She’s -1 and the charge required simply isn’t happening.

Nelly Korda is a bit miffed as she walks off 3. A tilt of the head in disappointment, having boomed a big drive only to leave her short wedge outside an acceptably close distance. The birdie putt from eight feet dies off to the left, and now she’s shaking her head in irritation. Her partner Jenny Shin misses a shorter birdie putt, and there’s not been a lot of movement at the top of the leaderboard early doors. Plenty of time yet, let the Old Course do its thing.

-7: Jiyai Shin (2)
-6: Vu (2)
-5: Jenny Shin (3), Korda (3)
-4: Ko (3)

Lilia Vu’s approach play has been below average so far – she’s a good 50 feet away from the flag this time, at 2 – but her putter looks to be working well, just as it did on the final day at Walton Heath this time last year. A glorious putt that snakes over a hump and down a swale then back up again. It shaves the lip; it deserved to drop. Another par. Par too for Jiyai Shin, who sends her second to ten feet but fails to hit the putt. One more turn and it was birdie.

Nelly Korda is this close to making birdie at 2. A fairly straight 15-foot putt stays out stubbornly on the high side. A par-par start for the world number one, which is two shots better than yesterday, when a pair of bogeys set the tone for her dismal day. Par as well for her playing partner Jenny Shin, both players remaining at -5.

Jiyai Shin can’t make her birdie putt on 1. Par will suffice. It certainly will for Lilia Vu, who chips to eight feet and rattles in the par saver with supreme confidence. Meanwhile Lottie Woad, having narrowly missed birdie at 3 after setting herself up with a sensational long bunker shot, drops a stroke at 4. The world number one amateur slips back to -2.

-7: Jiyai Shin (1)
-6: Vu (1)
-5: Jenny Shin (1), Korda (1)
-4: Ko (1)

Is it good or bad luck for Jiyai Shin at 1? Her laser-like 7-iron into the green clatters the flagstick and twangs 15 feet back. Fortunate not to fly all the way back into the burn? Unlucky that the ball didn’t miss the stick and land softly nearer the cup? Take your pick. She’s certainly happier than Lilia Vu, though, who pulls nervously into the gorse to the left of the green. A big up and down coming up.

Lilia Vu is trying to become the first woman to retain this title since the five-time major-winning Yani Tseng in 2011. Jiyai Shin meanwhile is attempting to become the first player to win this championship for a third time in its guise as a major championship (which it became in 2001). So a little bit of history beckons for the pair of them. They both send their tee shots down the middle of 1. Meanwhile up on the green, Nelly Korda isn’t able to make her birdie, but her partner Jenny Shin, having wedged to five feet, rolls in her putt to move to -5.

On the subject of star quality, here comes Nelly Korda. She cracks her opening drive down the middle, then eases her wedge over the burn to ten feet or so. She’ll have a good look at birdie. The one she made on 18 last night, a sweet end to an otherwise sour back nine of 40, will have given her succour after a difficult day; it certainly put her right back on the leaders’ tails. If this putt goes in, it’ll give the final pairing of Jiyai Shin and Lilia Vu, back on the tee, something to think about.

Last year’s runner up Charley Hull, who contributed so much to the drama at Walton Heath, was hopeful of going one better this time. Yesterday’s miserable 75 kind of put paid to those dreams, though if she were to fly out of the blocks today … ah but that’s not happened. Four pars in a row to open, with a birdie putt that shaved the hole at 2 eliciting an unambiguous and frankly marvellous “fucksake”. She remains at -2, though it’s surely just a matter of time before the charismatic star makes her major-championship breakthrough.

Everyone’s after a fast start. It doesn’t get much faster than eagle at 1, which is what the 2014 Evian champion Kim Hyo-joo made earlier, holing out from 121 yards. However the 29-year-old Korean has handed both shots back in the shortest of orders, with a double bogey at 3. She’s back where she started the day at -1. Meanwhile her compatriot Im Jinhee, on Women’s Open debut this week, birdies the opening hole to make the first serious indentation at the top of the leaderboard. Let’s crack that out for the first time.

-7: Jiyai Shin
-6: Vu
-5: Korda
-4: Im (1), Jenny Shin, Ko
-3: Woad -a- (3), Henseleit (1), Pano

It’s possible to go low today. Momoko Osato has proved that, with a best-of-day 67. She ends her Open debut at +2. Anne van Dam meanwhile is back in with a 68, finishing at level par after her week’s work.

Let’s open with the race for the Smyth Salver, which is awarded to the low amateur who plays 72 holes. It’s not over yet, though one suspects that’s only because Lottie Woad is pegging it up so late in the day. The current clubhouse leader in this particular battle is the 21-year-old Spaniard Julia Lopez Ramirez, back in the hutch at +3 for the tournament. She shot a fine final round of 71, though it could have been so much better: something special looked on the cards when she was five under today through 10, but four consecutive bogeys between 14 and 17 had her coming back in 39. Without those she’d be right in the mix, but Woad, starting the day at -2, has just raked in a long birdie putt on the opening hole. The 20-year-old from Surrey, who won at Augusta National earlier this year, can be forgiven for dreaming of even bigger things. She couldn’t, could she? It’s a long shot, but there she is at -3 overall, just four off the lead.

It’s cold and windy at the Old Course today. Rain spotting as well, with heavier stuff forecast. Not sure it qualifies as dreich, though, because it’s still reasonably bright and in any case St Andrews always glows with its unique glamour. Anticipation crackling around the home of golf, nothing can dampen it.

Preamble