Olympic Women's Golf 2016: Friday Leaderboard Score, Highlights and Reaction

South Korea's Inbee Park maintained her lead in women's golf at the 2016 Summer Olympics Friday, as she shot a one-under 70 in the third round and sits at 11 under overall.

Park holds a two-shot advantage over New Zealand's Lydia Ko and USA's Gerina Piller. Here is a look at the top of the leaderboard through three rounds of play at Olympic Golf Course in Rio de Janeiro, with full results available at NBCOlympics.com:

Place	Golfer	Country	Overall	R1	R2	R3
1	Inbee Park	South Korea	-11	66	66	70
T2	Lydia Ko	New Zealand	-9	69	70	65
T2	Gerina Piller	United States	-9	69	67	68
4	Feng Shanshan	China	-8	70	67	68
T5	Yang Hee Young	South Korea	-5	73	65	70
T5	Chun In Gee	South Korea	-5	70	66	72
T5	Charley Hull	Great Britain	-5	68	66	74
T8	Su Oh	Australia	-4	71	72	66
T8	Paula Reto	South Africa	-4	74	67	68
T8	Suzann Pettersen	Norway	-4	71	69	69
T8	Anna Nordqvist	Sweden	-4	71	70	68
T8	Minjee Lee	Australia	-4	69	67	73
T8	Brooke Henderson	Canada	-4	70	64	75
T8	Stacy Lewis	United States	-4	70	63	76

The 28-year-old Park is a seven-time major champion, but she is now in line for perhaps the biggest win of her career, as she can become the first Olympic gold medalist in women's golf since 1900.

Although Park will enter the final round with a two-shot cushion, her third-round performance was uneven after she finished with a 66 in each of the first two rounds.

Park had six birdies and five bogeys on the day. She birdied both No. 16 and No. 17 and seemed poised to enter the clubhouse on a high note, but a bogey on the par-five 18th left the door open for others to make a run at the gold.

One thing Park has working in her favor, though, is her dominance with the putter, according to Randall Mell of GolfChannel.com:

While Park is the golfer to beat, the world No. 1 made a big move Friday, as Ko shot a six-under 65, which was the best round of the day. 

As seen in this rundown of Ko's scorecard courtesy of the LPGA, she came out of the gates firing and shot a ridiculous 29 on the front nine:

That 29 included the biggest highlight of the day, as she came through with a hole-in-one on No. 8.

It marked the first ace of Ko's life, and she had the following to say about how she felt after the landmark shot, per Mike McAllister of PGATour.com:

While Ko didn't seem to have any trouble with the conditions, she said following the round that the wind was somewhat difficult to deal with:

Like Ko, Piller handled the wind admirably as well, shooting a three-under 68 to put herself within two shots of the No. 1 podium spot.

Piller also did most of her damage on the front nine with four birdies and five pars, which put her in a tie for the lead temporarily. She played the back nine at just one over par, though, and a bogey on the 18th prevented her from sole possession of second place.

Despite the disappointment at the end of her round, Piller was pleased with how well she played, given the wind factor:

Piller's countrywoman Stacy Lewis entered the third round just one shot off the lead by virtue of an eight-under 63 in the second round that featured a remarkable 11 birdies.

Lewis' form dropped off in a big way Friday, however, as a five-over 76 left her in a tie for eighth and in dire need of a great round Saturday in order to reach the podium.

The third round was also a difficult one for Thailand's Ariya Jutanugarn, who was forced to withdraw due to a knee injury, according to the LPGA.

Jutanugarn was the leader after one round of play, but as Jay Coffin of GolfChannel.com pointed out, she had major issues on the front nine Friday:

While golf tournaments are usually about the winner and nothing else, the battles for gold, silver and bronze will take center stage Saturday.

Park, Ko and Piller are in line to occupy the podium, while China's Feng Shanshan is one stroke off bronze-medal position at eight under.

There is a drop-off after that with three golfers at five under, which means extra attention will be paid to the final two groups, since there is a strong chance that all three medalists will come from them.

The chase for gold is of particular interest with Ko and Piller surging while Park stumbled on No. 18, but with a wealth of winning experience to her credit on the biggest stages in women's golf, Park has all the tools to hold off her hard-charging opponents.

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