An eventful moving day at the Hero Women’s Indian Open ends with Alice Hewson and Manon De Roey tied on three-under par.
Six shots adrift before the start of play, De Roey produced her brilliant best at DLF Golf & Country Club firing a round of the week 65 (-7) to take the clubhouse lead.
The Belgian carded birdies on the 2nd, 6th, 9th, 11th, 14th and 16th before a delightful approach on the par-5 18th set up number seven of the day.
“I don’t really know where to start!” De Roey said. “I feel like on this course you just have to make a game plan and stick to it. Don’t look what others are doing. I hit driver only once today, on 15. Very solid. Bogey-free on this course is very unlikely!
“Winning is always nice but on this course there’s still a lot of golf to be played. I like India. I like the tournament and I like Indian food too! I’m super excited for tomorrow.”
Playing in the final group alongside Shannon Tan and Kirsten Rudgeley, Hewson got off to a hot start birdying the 1st before chipping in from just short of the green on the 2nd to move two shots clear.
A couple of dropped shots on the 3rd and 5th would halt Hewson’s momentum, but the Englishwoman was able to steady the ship fantastically making 12 pars and a birdie at the 11th for a round of 71 (-1).
“It was pretty solid day today,” Hewson said. A little bit boring really! Not too many birdies and not too many bogeys. I scrambled well to keep bogeys off the card. Overall very happy. It should be a good final day tomorrow. I love playing with friends [De Roey and Liz Young], it always makes golf way more enjoyable.”
On the chip-in, the VP Bank Swiss Ladies Open winner said: “I was a bit surprised! I didn’t even see it go in. There was a mound in front of the pin. So I had no idea. But it’s always nice to get off to a quick start.”
Tied heading into the final round, both De Roey and Hewson and in pursuit of their second win of 2024. De Roey claimed glory earlier this year at the Investec SA Women’s Open while Hewson won in a playoff at the before-mentioned VP Bank Swiss Ladies Open.
Elsewhere on day three, Liz Young and Emma Spitz matched De Roey’s low scoring script posting rounds of 67 (-5) and 65 (-7) respectively to soar up the leaderboard.
Young hit a purple patch midway through her round carding five birdies in a row on the 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th and 12th. Another on the par-5 15th gave the one-time LET winner the solo lead before a tricky finish saw her drop three shots to move back to two-under par for the tournament, just one behind our leaders.
“I hit a really good chip on the 1st and then my putter started to really get hot,” Young said. “Especially in the middle of the round. It was a shame about the last few holes but they’re probably the toughest on the golf course.”
Spitz meanwhile had an incredible round teeing up in the first group of the day. The Austrian Olympian failed to drop a shot and pitched in for eagle on the troublesome par-4 17th en route to a round of the week 65 (-7). Spitz now sits in solo fourth position on level par as she chases a maiden LET win.
In a tie for fifth sit Czechia’s Sara Kouskova, Australia’s Kirsten Rudgeley and New Zealand’s Momoka Kobori on one-over par.
Rounding off the top-10 in a share for eighth on two-over par are Tan, England’s Hannah Burke, France’s Agathe Sauzon and Sweden’s Caroline Hedwall.
The fourth and final round of the 2024 Hero Women’s Indian Open gets underway tomorrow morning at 8:30am local time.
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