(Borgo San Lorenzo, Italy, May 18 2002) Italy’s Silvia Cavalleri is one round away from her maiden Tour victory as she leads the £117,000 La Perla Italian Open at Poggio dei Medici GC by one shot from Denmark’s Iben Tinning, winner of last weeks Irish Open.
Cavalleri fired a four under par 69 for a 12 under total in unbroken sunshine in the rolling Tuscan hills, while Tinning was the epitome of consistency, hitting all 18 greens in regulation for a three under par 70.
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| Tinning – going for back to back wins |
With four birdies in the third round and only one mistake in her last 36 holes, the Dane is confident she can pull off another win on Sunday.
“I didn’t hit it as well today, but I hit some really long drives which makes the course quite a bit shorter for me,” said the 28-year-old from Copenhagen, who racked up 34 putts in her score.
“It would be great to win again and tomorrow, I am going to think positive and be patient about my putting. I know I can putt well, and it’s going to happen soon. Winning in Ireland will help me too because that proved to me that I could do it and that has given me a lot of confidence.”
Despite a three-putt bogey at the opening hole, Lunn fought back and fired a six iron to eight feet for an eagle at the second and birdied the third. Another bogey followed at the fourth after a chip and two putts, but further birdies at the fifth, seventh and eighth saw her turn in 33.
With her putter warming up after two cool weeks, Lunn added more birdies at the 11th, 13th, 14th and 15th and rounded off her 64 with another at the par five final hole.
“I’ve been putting awfully over the last two weeks and yesterday afternoon, I holed a couple and that was encouraging,” said the 36-year-old from Sydney whose last win came at the 1997 French Open.
“That was one of the best rounds I have ever played, it was pretty pure stuff, I only missed one green and nine under is my best score and I had a good chance to go ten under today. It’s just a great feeling to play like that again.”
And defending champion Paula Marti came back into the mix with a blistering and faultless eight under 65 to equal last year’s course record set by Australian Corinne Dibnah.
