Anne van Dam and Linn Grant share the lead heading into the final day of the Jabra Ladies Open with the pair locked on seven-under-par after two rounds of action.
Starting the day two clear of the competition, van Dam extended her advantage early on when she posted a 70 (-1) at Evian Resort Golf Club.
Sweden’s Grant then responded in the afternoon as she carded six birdes en route to a 67 (-4) to match the Dutch star’s tally.
“I was solid from the tee,” Grant said. “I hit some really good shots into the green, my putting wasn’t too good though. I felt like I had a couple more birdies in me.”
Beginning her round on the 6th, the 23-year-old got off to a hot start when she posted red numbers on the 7th and 9th.
Hunting a fifth LET win, Grant birded the 15th before back-to-back bogeys on the 16th and 17th briefly halted her momentum.
A bounce back birdie on the 18th put her back on track, with two more coming in at the 3rd and 4th then catapulting the Swede into a share for the lead.
Grant said: “The birdie on 18 was really important. It’s a typical birdie hole which I can normally reach [in two], so to not make a birdie there would have been disappointing.
“The game plan tomorrow is to go out and have fun together. I love playing with Anne, she’s really fun to play with so we’ll see how it goes.”
Earlier on, a rollercoaster round from van Dam saw her post four birdies and one eagle combined with a double-bogey on the 10th and three bogeys on the 5th, 8th, and 16th.
“It was a little bit more up and down today,” the Dutch star said. “But I still actually have a pretty good feeling about today. I played pretty nicely and hit a lot of good shots. Especially off the tee I hit it a lot better than yesterday.
“I made a couple of mistakes. They’re so easy to make around here. So those two mistakes were bad, but I’m still in a good position.”
Chasing a maiden LET victory, England’s Hayley Davis sits in third on five-under-par after a posting a 67 (-4) in France.
“I’m really pleased with that,” Davis said. “I’ve played here a few times now so I think that’s definitely been an advantage. I just played really solid golf out there.”
One behind her is the duo of France’s Celine Herbin and England’s Gabs Cowley on four-under-par.
Soaring up the leaderboard in solo sixth is Italy’s Alessandra Fanali. The rookie had a Friday to remember as she battled back from a 73 (+2) on Thursday to post the low round of the day, a 66 (-5) at Evian Resort Golf Club.
“This morning I went to the physio because I had a problem with my neck,” Fanali said. “The coach from the Italian national team then just told me to relax and keep it in play.
“And then I started pretty well. I made four birdies in a row so it was very good. My putter was great!”
In total, 67 players made the cut for Saturday’s final round which stood at +6. Tomorrow’s action gets underway tomorrow at 7:30am local time. Full scoring can be found here.
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