Lee, who turns 22 on Sunday, held a two-stroke heading into the final round at Ann Arbor, Michigan.

She’s been knocking on the door all season, with her five top-10 LPGA finishes including a playoff loss to Lydia Ko in San Francisco in April.

Lee nabbed her fourth birdie of the day at Travis Pointe’s par-five 18th to build a 12-under par total of 204.

Last week’s Volvik Championship winner Ariya Jutanugarn shot a 70 for a total 8 under, four off the pace.

American Stacy Lewis, expecting her first child later this year, fired a 67 to join a group sharing second on 206. She was joined by South Korea’s Kim In-kyung, who also posted a 67, and by England’s Jodi Ewart Shadoff and American Lindy Duncan, who both signed for 69s.

“I had a pretty solid day today, made no bogeys,” said Lee, who is seeking a fourth LPGA title and her first since 2016. She finished second in this event by a stroke last year.

Although play was halted for more than two hours by rain, Lee said the greens firmed up by the time she finished her round.

“I think just keeping it in play was pretty important today,” she said.

Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand 

Lewis, seeking her first win since the Portland Classic last August, said she didn’t hit the ball well, but made some solid up-and-downs to get on a “nice little run.”

“This golf course, you can shoot a number,” said Lewis, who birdied four of her last five holes. “You can shoot six- or seven-under, but you can also play pretty good and shoot even par.

“So you’ve just got to get runs like I did there at the end of the day and just keep hanging around and post a number and see what happens.”

Lewis admitted she was tired after the stop-and-start day, but said she didn’t think her pregnancy prevented her from being competitive.

“The little one was telling me it’s dinner time right now, but other than that I feel pretty good,” she said. “Excited to be in the hunt.”

Japanese 19-year-old Nasa Hataoka, who held a one-stroke overnight lead over Lee, made a promising start with a birdie at the second, then had five bogeys before back-to-back birdies at 14 and 15 to post a two-over 74.

That left her tied for 15th, five shots off the pace.

 2014 Rio Games gold medalist Chen Long, 2012 London Games champion Lin Dan and one of China’s 2016 doubles winners, Zhan Nan, look likely to take home their 10th Cup title after previous successes in 1982, 1986, 1988, 1990 and from 2004-2012.

China’s 3-1 semi-final win over Indonesia returned them to the final for the first time since 2012.

World No 5 Chen Long won the first point by beating Anthony Sinisuka Ginting 22-20 21-16  before 13-time champions Indonesia hit back , Marcus Fernaldi Gideon and Kevin Sanjaya Sukamuljo ousting Liu Cheng and Zhan Nan 12-21 21-17 21-15.

However the Indonesian revolution last briefly as China won the next two rubbers –

2014 Youth Olympic winner Shi Yuqi beat 2017 SEA Games gold medalist Jonatan Christie 18-21 21-12 21-15 before two-time reigning Asian Championships winners  Li Junhui and Liu Yuchen beat Mohammad Ahsan and Hendra Setiawan 21-17 18-21 21-12.

Chen, 29, dropped only one game throughout the tournament and is a part of the Chinese Thomas Cup winning team in 2010-12. The Chinese No 1 who pointed Thai fruits as ones of his favourite things here will look for a revenge over Japanese ace Kento Momota, the 12th ranked who beat him for the April’s Asian Championships title in Wuhan.

World No 4 Liu and Zhan just beat world No 6 and Japanese No 1 doubles team Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda for the gold medal in Wuhan while Chinese great Lin Dan, No 9 in the world, shall summon all experience to win the last point for China (should a decisive match is required) due to his most outstanding achievements among all players with wins from all major events including six All England, five World Championships and two Olympic titles.

However Japan won’t make it easy for China as when they won their maiden Cup title in 2014, they blanked China 3-0 in the semi-finals.

Japan ruined Denmark’s title defence campaign late on Friday’s night with a 3-2 win.

Kento upset world No 1 Viktor Axelsen 21-17 21-9 before Mathias Boe and Mads Conrad-Petersen beat Takeshi Kamura and Keigo Sonoda 21-18 21-12 for one all.

World No 14 Kenta Nishimoto beat Hans-Kristian Vittinghus 21-19 21-12 to  take Japan to  a 2-1 lead before Kim Astrup and Anders Skaarup Rasmussen beat Takuto Inoue and Yuki Kaneko 17-21 21-16 21-15 to level the tie.

In the end the 55-ranked Kanta Tsuneyama sealed the victory for Nippon with an upset win over former world No 2 and former European Championships winner Jan O Jorgensen 21-18 21-11.

Bale’s jaw-dropping overhead kick in the 64th minute put Real 2-1 up moments after his introduction, following a dramatic start to the second half in which Karim Benzema gave Real the lead as a result of a Loris Karius howler.

Sadio Mane had briefly restored parity, but Bale put Real in front again and then sealed the triumph late on with a long-range strike that the unfortunate Karius could only punch into the net.

Jurgen Klopp’s and Liverpool’s own evening was marred by the loss of a distraught Mohamed Salah to injury in the first half, the Egyptian coming off half an hour in having damaged his shoulder.

This was not to be Salah’s night, with Real allowing Zinedine Zidane to become the first coach ever to win the Champions League three years in a row.

“With a team like this we can go far, but to win three of them, it’s something crazy,” Zidane said.

Madrid are the first team to achieve that feat since Bayern Munich in 1976. This is their fourth title in five years, and their 13th overall.

Cristiano Ronaldo has now won five in his great career, although he later cast a cloud over the night by hinting that he could soon leave the club, saying: “It was very nice to be at Real Madrid.”

However, it was Bale’s evening, and when asked if it was the best goal he had ever scored, he said: “I’d have to say it is, on the biggest stage in world football to score a goal like that is a dream come true.”

But Bale has not been a regular in the Real team this season and he admitted he will now consider his future in the weeks ahead.

“I feel I should be playing every week and if that’s not the case here it’s something I need to consider. We will sit down in the summer and try to resolve things.”

The Welshman had been tipped to feature in the starting line-up but was left out for Isco — just as he had been in the final against Juventus last year — before making an emphatic impact as a substitute.

Gareth Bale

– Salah’s tears –

For Liverpool, the game will be remembered for the disaster that befell goalkeeper Karius in the second half, and for Salah’s tears as he departed the pitch at the NSC Olympiyskyi.

The Egyptian hurt his left shoulder as he went down in a challenge with Sergio Ramos in the 25th minute.

Five minutes later he made way for Adam Lallana, and his presence at the World Cup is now in doubt.

“We wanted everything and got nothing. We lost an important player and probably Egypt lost for the World Cup an important player,” Klopp said.

Liverpool’s Egyptian forward Mohamed Salah lays on the pitch following injury 

Salah’s injury, and that which forced Real’s Dani Carvajal off before the break, temporarily took the sting out of the game after an enthralling start, with Liverpool on top.

After Salah departed, Real sensed their chance. They even had the ball in the net in the 43rd minute, only to be denied by a marginal offside call.

Ronaldo’s header from Isco’s cross was parried by Karius, and Benzema turned in the loose ball, but the flag cut short his celebrations.

If that was a let-off for Liverpool, they were their own worst enemies at the start of the second half.

– Careless Karius –

Isco struck the bar after Lallana diverted the ball into his path, before Benzema opened the scoring in the 51st minute.

It was a moment of unbelievable carelessness from Karius, who attempted to roll the ball out to the nearest red shirt only for Benzema to stick out a leg and send it trickling into the net.

Klopp’s side really could have let their heads drop, and yet they were soon back level, Mane turning the ball in after Dejan Lovren headed down James Milner’s corner.

But their renewed hope was crushed upon the introduction of Bale.

The Welshman had been on the field barely two minutes when he met Marcelo’s cross from the left with an improbable leap, back to goal, 15 yards out, to send an overhead kick on his left foot arcing over Karius and in.

Such a strike deserved to be the winner, although it was his long-range shot that beat the embarrassed Karius in the 83rd minute that made sure of the victory.

Mane hit the post for Liverpool in between Bale’s strikes, but they will have to wait a while yet before winning their sixth European Cup.

Top seeds Japan tamed hosts Thailand 3-0 to claim their first Uber Cup victory since 1981 in front of a near-full house at the Impact Arena, Muang Thong Thani on Saturday.

The match was preceded by the rare scene of badminton fans queueing for tickets to Thailand’s first appearance in the final. Sadly, their hopes of witnessing an historic victory did not materialise.

Japan, featuring elite players such as world No 2 Akane Yamaguchi, current world champion Nozomi Okuhara and world No 2 doubles player Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota were too tough a nut to crack. They reeled off the three rubbers they needed in just over three hours for their sixth Uber Cup victory.

The Japanese domination started with Yamaguchi showing masterclass form to beat Thai ace Ratchanok Intanon 21-15 21-19.

Ratchanok Intanon

“I was happy to win this point not because I beat Ratchanok but because I won the first point for Japan. I remained focused in a difficult match against a tough player,” said Akane, who avenged her loss to Ratchanok in the Malaysian Masters semi-finals in January.

Former world No 1 Ratchanok admitted she had not been at her best.

“I was surprised by how she counter-attacked with my game. The momentum kept switching all the time but in the end she was the better player on crucial points,” said Ratchanok, who will play two events in Malaysia and Indonesia before the Thailand Open in July.

Thailand later opted to pair Jongkolphan Kititharakul with Puttita Supajirakul instead of Jongkolphnan’s  normal partner Rawinda Prajongjai, hoping to confuse Asian Championships winners and world No 2 Yuki Fukushima and Sayaka Hirota.

The tactic worked at the beginning but once the Japanese duo found their momentum, they never looked back and eased home  21-18 21- 12.

“At the beginning they seemed to have a problem with our team as they are more familiar with me and Rawinda but they finally caught up with us and never allowed us to play our game. We already tried everything,” said Jongkolphan.

Japanese team

Fukushima, who won the World Championships silver medal with Hirato last year in Glasgow, said: “We felt relieved after Yamaguchi won the first point. We didn’t start well but after we reached the first 11 points first, we got into our groove.”

World No 11 Nitchaon Jindapol then took to the court in the hope of reversing the tide but world No 9 Okuhara proved stronger and faster in all aspects, subdued the Thai No 2  21-12 21-9.

“Even though we lost, to be standing on the podium as the runners-up for the first time is a huge experience. Beating a powerful team like China in the semi-finals will always stay in my memory,” said Nitchaon.

Nitchaon Jindapol 

While Thailand coach Rexy Mainaky was content with the team’s maiden Uber Cup final appearance he said he would need to study the videos and analyse where the team could do even better in future.

“They have shown they are mentally stronger but we need to work harder on the physical part,” the Indonesian said. “We need to show consistency in order to be at the same level as the top teams like China, Japan, Indonesia and Denmark.”

Japan’s coach, the South Korean Park Joo Bong, praised his players’ determination.

“At the beginning I was concerned about the support from the home fans but my players proved they were really focused and determined to win,” he said.