The question was asked of Thailand’s Benyapa Niphatsophon after she’d taken a six-stroke lead through three rounds of the Callaway Junior World Championships. Who got her into the game?

Most kids will say a parent or other family member. Some will say their peers at school.

Benyapa?

“Tiger Woods.”

All it took was seeing his image on television in her home in Bangkok when she was 6 to attract Niphatsophon. Understand, she was born in June of 1997, only two months after Wood’s historic first major win in the Masters.

Golf’s Tiger Woods era is all that she has ever known. And, of course, Thailand is the homeland of Woods' mother, Kultida.

“It was because when Tiger came out he was focused on just his job,” Niphatsophon said. “I told my mom I wanted to play golf like Tiger. She said, ‘Next year come and talk to me.’ I told her the next year and she took me to get lessons. She’s supported me all of the time.”

Only 15, Niphatsophon has won more than 200 tournaments throughout Asia, and now she is on the brink of one of her biggest triumphs. On the Torrey Pines North Course where Woods played his first-ever round on a big course with his father, Niphatsophon has opened up a huge lead heading into today’s final round in the Girls 15-17 Division.

She made five birdies in shooting 2-under-par 70 on Thursday and had a 7-under total, six better than Hawaii’s Eimi Koga, who birdied 17 and 18 to shoot the day’s best score on the North with a 69.

Four players are tied for third, seven shots behind, including Chula Vista’s Hannah Kim (73) and San Diego’s Sarah Cho (71).

Carlsbad’s Aliea Clark, an upcoming junior at Our Lady of Peace, played alongside Niphatsophon in the final group and marveled at the leader missing only three fairways while making every putt she looked at from inside 6 feet.

“She’s great. She has the best attitude,” Clark, 16, said cheerfully. “Sometimes I get a little bit upset.”

For Clark, it was a new and somewhat nerve-jangling experience to play in the lead group in Junior World. In four previous trips, Clark hadn’t been in serious contention, and on Thursday she played a front nine of 40 after shooting a back-nine 33 en route to a 70 in the second round.

Clark ended up shooting 76 in the third round to fall into a tie for ninth, but could still post her first top-10 in Junior World on Friday.

“It was a little bit of pressure and I needed to focus a little more,” said Clark, who has won two AJGA events in the last two years. “I wish I would have gotten it together earlier.”

In the Boys 15-17, Mission Viejo’s Beau Hossler trails by one shot in his bid to be the first back-to-back champion in the division since Australian Andrew Buckle in 1999 and 2000.

Hossler couldn’t gain ground on Corona’s Aaron Wise as both players shot 1-over 73 on the South Course. Wise made an impressive save from the right trees for par on 18, while Hossler bogeyed after his approach shot held up on the bank, just above the water, and he couldn’t get up and down.

The top San Diegan is Poway's Franklin Huang, alone in fifth, six shots behind, after scoring 76.

Champions crowned

Rhett Rasmussen of Draper, Utah, shot 2-under 69 at the Morgan Run Resort and Club to capture the Boys 13-14 title. In the Girls 13-14, Lilia Kha-Tu Vu of Fountain Valley won by five shots with a closing 68 at the Country Club of Rancho Bernardo.

The winners in the other divisions were: Boys 11-12, Thailand’s Parathakorn Suyasri (5-under, Sycuan Oak Glen); Girls 11-12, Thailand’s Paphangkorn Tavatanakit (2-under, Rancho Bernardo Inn); Boys 9-10, Australia’s Karl Vilips (4-under, Welk Fountains); Girls 9-10, Philippines’ Francesca Bernice Olivarez-Ilas (1-under, Lomas Santa Fe Executive); Boys 7-8, Philippines’ Jed Llamado Dy (2-under, Oaks North); Girls 7-8, Japan’s Tsubasa Kajitani (6-over, Sycuan Pine Glen); Boys 6-under, Japan’s Ryusei Sawada (1-over, Colina Park); Girls 6-under, Thailand’s Pimchompoo Chaisilprungruang (19-over, Colina Park).