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LOS ANGELES: Australia’s Minjee Lee defied difficult, windy conditions with a remarkable bogey-free 3-under par 69 on Saturday to seize a four-stroke lead over Jeeno Thitikul at the Women’s PGA Championship in Texas.

Lee, chasing her third major title, fired three birdies in one of just three sub-par rounds at Fields Ranch East in Frisco, north of Dallas, where soaring temperatures and wind tested golfers for a third straight day.

“I just try to stay patient out there,” the 29-year-old said after building a six-under total of 210. “You can’t get ahead of yourself, especially in these conditions.”

Trailing Jeeno by three to start the day, Lee grabbed her first birdie at the ninth, where she blasted out of a greenside bunker to four feet and made the putt.

She finally took control at the par-5 14th, drilling a 19-foot birdie putt as Jeeno three-putted for a bogey that dropped her three strokes back.

Lee added a birdie at the 15th, and remained bogey free with a par save at 18 — where her second shot raced through the green but she chipped to three feet.

“I try to stay within myself and play the shot as best as I could,” she said. “Just stayed patient, just take it as it comes.”

Lee, whose 10 LPGA victories include major titles at the 2021 Evian Championship and 2022 US Women’s Open, said there would be plenty of work to do on Sunday despite her four-shot cushion.

“It’s just only getting harder and harder just with I think pressure of a major championship, and also just the course just demands so much from you,” she said.

World No.2 Jeeno’s hopes of a first major title took an early hit with bogeys at the third and sixth.

She rolled in a 12-foot birdie at the eighth, but dropped into a tie for the lead after back-to-back bogeys at 11 and 12.

She bounced back from her bogey at 14 with a birdie at 15, but gave back a shot at the 16th, finishing with a 4-over 76 for 214.

Lee and Jeeno, both based in the Dallas area, were the only players under par heading into the final round.

US veteran Lexi Thompson, playing a limited schedule this season, shook off a horrendous start to post a 3-over par 75 to headline a trio sharing third place on one-over 217.

Thompson opened with a triple-bogey and a bogey and added another bogey at the eighth before she made two birdies coming in.

She was joined on one-over by South Korean Choi Hye-jin, who carded a 72, and Japan’s Miyu Yamashita, who shot 73.

World No. 1 Nelly Korda had five birdies and five bogeys in her even par 72 to headline a group of four on 218.

“It’s brutal out there when it comes to the setup of the golf course, wind conditions, everything,” Korda said. “I’m very happy with even par.

“You’re just happy to get 18 under your belt on a day like this,” added the American, who said having substantial waits on several tees only added to the difficulty of the day.

“You don’t want to be spending 20 minutes and getting up to the next tee and then you’re 15 minutes and getting up to the next tee and it’s another 15 minutes,” she said. “There is just, like, no momentum in it.”

Korda was tied with Ireland’s Leona Maguire, Japan’s Chizato Iwai, South Korean Lee So-mi and American Yealimi Noh — who had two eagles but also six bogeys in her 74.

Australian Grace Kim had the low round of the day, firing six birdies in an impressive 4-under par 68 that gave put her among a group of five players on three-over 219.

CROMWELL, Connecticut: Scottie Scheffler provided hope with a late double bogey. Tommy Fleetwood charged through with two eagles in three holes, and so did Justin Thomas with five straight birdies. They wound up tied for the lead on a blustery Friday at the Travelers Championship.

All it took was the fate of the wind, good or bad, to shape the leaderboard going into the weekend at the TPC River Highlands, with 12 players separated by four shots.

Scheffler was comfortably in front when the left-to-right wind his tee shot had been riding laid down, sending his ball into the fairway bunker on the par-4 17th. He put the next one in the water, barely reached the green with his fourth shot and made double bogey. He wound up with a 1-under 69.

Fleetwood felt the wind going right-to-left, then slightly hurting, then slightly helping on the par-5 13th. He had 240 yards to at least cover the water, 264 yards to the hole, and he felt his 9-wood would at least reach the green.

So much depended on the fickle wind that fooled so many players.

“I just sort of caught the right moment,” said Fleetwood, who also chipped in for eagle on the reachable 15th and shot 65. “Came off perfect and then beautiful putt.”

Thomas wished he could have hit the ball a little better off the tee, but he stayed out of trouble, stayed patient and cashed in on the back nine with his five straight birdies, two of them from the 25-foot range, that led to a 64.

They were at 9-under 131, one shot ahead of Jason Day (66).

Rory McIlroy was 3 over through four holes in gusts that topped 30 mph, at one point falling eight shots behind Scheffler, a daunting prospect. But he kept in the game, found hope when Scheffler dropped back to 9 under, and got a little luck on his own.

His second shot from a bunker on the 17th was so think that he took one hand off the club and waited for the worse, mainly a splash. It founded the water at such a low trajectory that it skipped out onto the fairway.

He failed to get up-and-down, taking bogey, but felt it could have been worse — the shot, and his position going into the weekend He batted for a 71, leaving him only four back.

“The conditions today definitely bunched the entire field together and should make for an exciting weekend,” McIlroy said

The conditions — mainly the wind strong that was blowing hats off of heads and sending unoccupied chairs tumbling away — was everything in the second round.

The average score was 70.7, nearly two shots harder than the opening round. It was the highest scoring average for a single round at the Travelers since the second round in 2017.

The toughest part for players was figuring out which way it was blowing. Scheffler experienced that on the 17th.

“The tee shot, I hit exactly the way I wanted to,” Scheffler said. “Somehow the wind either stops or goes back because the way my ball was flying it should have basically gotten to the middle of the fairway and I end up in the left bunker.

“Then I catch it a hair fat, and all of a sudden I’m dropping and hitting my fourth shot, and I hit the shot exactly the way we wanted to, and as the ball is flying, you get a gust into the wind, and all of a sudden the ball is not on the green,” he said. “You can’t get every one correct. You just do your best to manage your way around the golf course.”

Day had his own version of a hat trick on the front nine — three pars, three birdies, three bogeys — until hitting all the right shots for a 31 on the back to get in the hunt.

Denny McCarthy (64) and Austin Eckroat (71) were at 7-under 133, followed by Ryder Cup captain Keegan Bradley 70) and Nick Taylor (68).

Patrick Cantlay had a 68 with a double bogey on the par-5 13th and joined the large group at 135 that included McIlroy.

If the wind wasn’t bad enough, Luke Clanton showed remarkable patience in his second tournament as a pro. He had been playing with Jordan Spieth, who had to withdraw with soreness in his upper back on Thursday. Clanton was a single in the middle of the field, behind Scheffler and US Open champion J.J. Spaun, in front of Andrew Novak and Jacob Bridgeman.

He waited on every shot and did well to post a 72, leaving him in the middle of the pack.