Emma Spitz produced one of the rounds of the season on day three of the Hero Women’s Indian Open firing a bogey-free 65 (-7) at a testing DLF Golf & Country Club.
With only two players under par prior to the start of play, and with the best score of the week a 68 (-4) by Hitaashee Bakshi, Spitz went low carding five birdies and one eagle to soar up the leaderboard.
“It feels so good to finally play a good round around this course,” the Austrian said. “The last two days have been tough. Especially mentally, making me think that perhaps I wasn’t up to the task at the beginning.
“Today I really tried to commit to 100% of my shots and that worked really well.”
On the eagle at the par-4 17th, a unique, troublesome hole for many, Spitz holed out with her second shot despite not being able to see the bottom of the flagstick.
She said: “I hit a 5-wood off the tee, middle of the fairway. Then I had about 78 metres into the pin. I hit a 54 and it went right at the pin, but I mean I didn’t think it was in the hole. Nobody saw it and you can’t see anything besides the top of the flag. We walked up and one ball was next to the pin and another one was missing. Then Maria [Hernandez] saw it and we were like, ‘oh!'”
The Olympian jumped 26 spots up the leaderboard thanks to the incredible round and now sits in solo fourth on level par ahead of the final round.
England’s Alice Hewson and Belgium’s Manon De Roey – matching Spitz’s 65 (-7) on day three – lead the way on three-under par.
Spitz is chasing a maiden victory on the Ladies European Tour (LET) this week. Her best prior result came at the Amundi German Masters back in May where she lost in a playoff to close friend Alexandra Försterling.
The Austrian second year star will tee up in the penultimate group on Sunday playing alongside New Zealand’s Momoka Kobori and Czech Republic’s Sara Kouskova.
Spitz continued: “I have some time now. Will rest a little and hit some balls on the range just to keep the feel of the today. We’ll see you out there tomorrow again.”
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