Sweden’s Lisa Pettersson and England’s Charlotte Heath top a stacked leaderboard with one round remaining at the Tipsport Czech Ladies Open after the pair moved to 13-under par on a sweltering Saturday in Beroun.
As the birdies continued to flow in the Czech Republic, Pettersson followed up yesterday’s 66 (-6) with a 65 (-7) to leapfrog Lydia Hall and Vanessa Knecht in the morning wave and take the solo lead. This came as Finland’s Noora Komulainen made a charge of her own moving to 12-under par thanks to a second round 67 (-5).
Pettersson, a one-time winner on the Ladies European Tour (LET), carded six birdies and one eagle which came at the short par-5 7th – her third last hole. She signed her scorecard as temperatures reached a blistering 36 degrees celsius at Royal Beroun Golf Club.
“It was very solid today,” Pettersson said, whose sole victory on the circuit came at the 2023 Helsingborg Open in her native Sweden. “I managed to miss in the right positions – same as yesterday. I hit it pretty close a few times and obviously had a good finish with an eagle and a birdie in the last three holes. A good day and a hot one. The greens are quite receptive so you can go at a lot of pins.
“I actually haven’t been here in three years. I skipped this event the past two years. Before that I never made the cut here! So I feel like it’s been a rematch this week to previous years! I don’t follow the leaderboards. Before you told me my position I had no clue. I try to stay in the moment. There’s a lot of birdies out there so I feel anyone can come up from below and grab it. I’ll have to play as good as I possibly can to win.”
Heath meanwhile, playing in the even hotter afternoon wave, followed up Friday’s 65 (-7) with a 66 (-6) to match Pettersson’s morning target. The English rookie carded seven birdies dropping just one shot which came at the par-3 4th.
“Today was a lot more boring, but in a good way,” Heath said. “Fairways. Greens. Good putts. Sometimes the best rounds are the most boring ones.”
Heath lead by two shots heading into the final round at last week’s Dutch Ladies Open. A disappointing Sunday eventually saw the rookie finish T18 – an experience she feels she has already learned a lot from.
“I’ll just keep concentrating on my own game,” Heath said on the task ahead. “I need to not worry about anyone else. This golf course is super important for that. There can be really low scores out there. Twentieth or even thirtieth place could come out and win on this course. I’ll just play my own game.
“I’m very excited for tomorrow and very proud of myself for putting myself in these positions in my rookie year. I went through a blip in South Africa with my game. I went home for a couple of weeks so I’m really happy the work I’ve put in is paying off.”
In solo third on 12-under par sits the before-mentioned Komulainen. The Finnish star, now in her 13th year on the LET, is yet to drop a shot this week and is being aided by her husband Roope on the bag and daughter Elli watching from the sides.
“It’s always nice having the family out here because we don’t get to do it very often,” the 35-year-old said. “My husband is caddying which is nice. He used to caddie for me a lot before we had our daughter. He’s a professional caddie but only gets to do it a few times a year.
“It’s been very solid out there. Both rounds bogey-free. That helps! My ball-striking was better yesterday than today but today I managed to hole a few more putts which always helps. But this course always gives you lots of chances. I’m really looking forward to tomorrow.“
One back from Komulainen in a tie for fourth are England’s Esme Hamilton, runner-up at this event last year, and New Zealand’s Amelia Garvey. The latter matched the round of the day 65 (-7) to soar up the leaderboard while Hamilton, a winner at this year’s Investec SA Women’s Open, continued her great form after withdrawing from last week’s Dutch Ladies Open with injury.
The English star said: “I’m just really pleased to be able to play in this event because it’s got good memories for me. It’s even better to be right up there shooting some good scores and playing some good golf. I’m very happy.
“With not knowing if I was going to play, it kind of took away from maybe certain pressures which might have been there [because I finished T2 last year]. But I was also aware that those pressures could be there. It’s more of a case of enjoying being here rather than thinking, ‘oh, I have to play well here again.’ It was a freak injury but the fingers feel great now. Just a bit of bruising that I’m dealing with but nothing that some paracetamol can’t help with. I’ll just take every shot as is comes tomorrow and try to enjoy it.”
Five players round out the top-10 in a tie for sixth on 10-under par. This group includes Switzerland’s Knecht, Slovenia’s Pia Babnik who hit the shot of the day, an eagle slam dunk at the 16th, Italy’s Anna Zanusso, Spain’s Amaia Latorre and Australia’s Justice Bosio.
Overnight leader Hall remains on nine-under par and sits in T11 alongside three past champions of this competion: India’s Diksha Dagar, Spain’s Marta Martin and Czech Republic’s Jana Melichova.
After 36 holes of action, the cut fell at five-under par with 62 players making it through to Sunday’s finale. The third and final round of the Tipsport Czech Ladies Open gets underway tomorrow morning at 7:30 local time.
Follow all the action throughout the tournament on our socials – @LETgolf on Instagram, TikTok and X, and Ladies European Tour on YouTube and Facebook – #TipsportCzechLadiesOpen.
