Before Gaby Lopez fired a closing 63 and authored a comeback victory Sunday afternoon at the Dana Open, the stage was set at Highland Meadows Golf Club for 19-year-old Lucy Li to break through.
Li, the former prodigy who at age 11 qualified for a U.S. Women’s Open, was now, eight years after that memorable debut at Pinehurst, on the cusp of her first LPGA victory. In the Dana field courtesy of her top-10 at the LPGA’s previous event in Canada, Li grabbed the 54-hole lead at 14 under, a shot clear of Lexi Thompson, whom Li supplanted as the youngest USWO competitor in 2014 and would be grouped with Li and Caroline Masson in Sunday’s final threesome in Ohio.