CHARLESTON, S.C. -- After hitting her approach on the par-4 16th hole three feet from the flagstick late Saturday afternoon at the Country Club of Charleston to set up her sixth birdie of the third round, Jaye Marie Green paused before walking to the green.
She pinched the cheek of her brother and caddie, Matt, who had talked her into the proper club selection, a 7-iron, for the 154-yard shot, instead of the 6-iron she had chosen.
By this stage of the 74th U.S. Women's Open, it figured that Green might be pinching herself -- to make sure this wasn't a dream.
Golf is a crazy game, as maddening as it is difficult. Success can pop up like a deer on a dark highway, out of nowhere when you least expect it. Where Green, 25, finds herself after 54 holes of the oldest major championship in women's golf is the latest proof.
Prior to the second round this week, Green hadn't bettered 70 in competition since April 7, when she closed with a 68 at the ANA Inspiration to tie for 12th place, her best career finish in a major. She arrived in the South Carolina Lowcountry ranked 118th in the world, having missed four consecutive cuts on the LPGA Tour, making it six of nine appearances this season without playing on the weekend.
Green not only is competing this weekend, but she goes into Sunday's final round tied for third with fellow Floridian Lexi Thompson and Mamiko Higa of Japan. The three are one stroke out of the lead held by You Liu of China and Celine Boutier of France at 7-under 206. Green backed up Friday's 68 with another one Saturday to put herself in uncharted territory.
"Who am I kidding? I've never been this close in a major before," Green told reporters after the third round. "I think the only way you can learn is to be in this position."
In fact, Green, who turned professional out of high school, rarely has been in such close proximity to a victory in her six years on tour. She has four career top-10s, her best finish a tie for sixth in the 2015 Yokohama Tire Classic.
"I felt this calmness that I've never felt before," Green said. "I think God's blessed me with that, because I'm usually a nervous wreck."
Matt Green, 28, who in his third season as his sister's caddie, has tried to lighten the mood in 2019. They play "21 Questions" during play.
"We just have so much fun out here," he said. "We were so serious coming into this year. We started playing '21 Questions,' just basically walking, talking and having fun and playing a little golf. She has the game; it's just about getting her mind right for certain situations."
Jaye Marie's brother helped set her putting on the right track this week. On the eighth hole during the opening round, with Jaye Marie uncomfortable on the greens in the early going, Matt suggested a different approach, a riff on multiple major champion Brooks Koepka's comments about trying to putt like a kid.
"She said things don't feel right," Matt said of the Thursday conversation. "I said, 'What about 12-year-old Jaye, who did two practice strokes, took a quick look and hit it with feel?' "
Jaye Marie, who is ranked 121st in putts per round this season, also narrowed her stance slightly, in the manner of one of her friends who plays the PGA Tour, Rickie Fowler.
"My brother said, 'Jaye, you don't even look like you putting.' I'm like, 'What did I used to do?' So, he kind of told me that, and that just freed me up," she said. "Because under the gun, you've got to go to what you know, and what I know is how I was when I was younger. So, I just tried to re-create that."
With 33 and 32 putts over the first two rounds, it wasn't as if Green was holing everything. But the freedom and ease of her method paid off handsomely Saturday, when she holed two birdie putts outside 20 feet and made an 18-footer for a crucial par save on the demanding, par-3 11th hole.
"She's figuring out her game," her brother said. "She was trying to play so many other people's games."
Despite missing a six-footer for birdie on No. 18, Green had only 28 putts on the slick greens, three fewer than her 2018 average.
"I trust him more than anyone in the world on the golf course," Green said of her brother. "I don't know about off the golf course."
Green has trusted herself so far this week, aware that while birdies are being made, the venue can be vexing and demands patience.
"I love this place," she said. "I love how you have to play so patient, and you can really only take one shot at a time."
In the final round, Green will be paired with Thompson, who is no stranger to the U.S. Women's Open, given that this is her 13th appearance, and no stranger to Green.
"We're really good friends, and it's cool because I feel we're going to try and beat each other," Green said. "And we know that, and it's cool because we could just kind of go about our business. So, I will look forward to it."
It isn't unusual for players to make the U.S. Women's Open their first LPGA victory -- it has happened 18 times.
"It's something I've always dreamed about," Green said of winning the event. "I try not to even think about it until it would become a reality, because I'm trying hard to just stay in the moment -- that's been working. But I'm such an American girl. It would just mean the world to me. Makes me want to cry just even thinking about it."
