TAYLOR RETAINS HER LEAD

Ashleigh Simon

She explained: “I hit my drive left into the bunker and I had a very awkward stance. I hit my six-iron and duffed it. It rolled back into the bunker and I proceeded to hit the ground without realising. The ball was still in the bunker so I called a two shot penalty on myself. I wasn’t too disappointed as I actually would have made a five.

“From there I went birdie, birdie, birdie and got it straight back so I was pretty happy with my fight back. It’s my first time in contention out here so I’ll take it as a learning experience.”

Brewerton began slowly with a double bogey at the third hole when she lost her ball off the tee but she responded with a further bogey and seven birdies.

“It wasn’t the best way to start but without the wind there were lots of birdie chances. I started to play really well,” said the 24-year-old. “I was hitting the irons straight at the pins and putting well so everything was good.”

England’s Trish Johnson, the recent BMW Ladies Italian Open champion, carded a 69 and moved to fourth place on four-under with three players on three under – Gwladys Nocera (66), Paula Marti (67) and Iben Tinning (69).