Manon De Roey remains the player to catch at the Investec SA Women’s Open after a birdie-filled 66 (-6) on Saturday moved the Belgian three shots clear heading into the final round.
One ahead of Rosie Davies before the start of play, De Roey went into attack mode in the afternoon carding nine birdies to move to 14-under par and stretch her advantage.
“I tried to stay patient all day,” the 32-year-old said. “I started quite strong and created chances for myself. I thought it was going to be more windy and to be honest I prefer the wind because I can shape the ball more. But I just picked my targets and lines and tried to commit to every shot.
The Belgian Olympian got off to a hot start birdying the 1st after cutting the corner to perfection. She was forced to bounce back after bogeying the 2nd, rolling one in nicely on the 3rd to maintain her two shot lead.
This was followed by birdies on the 5th and 7th either side of a dropped shot, before De Roey lit things up after the turn, making four birdies in a row on the 11th, 12th, 13th and 14th.
As Ines Laklalech made a Saturday surge elsewhere, De Roey would play an excellent approach on the 16th to make another birdie. Her only dropped shot of the back-nine came one hole later on the 17th. A par finish then secured the 66 (-6).
The Belgian said: “When I saw the leaderboard on 13 I suddenly realised, ‘Ok, people are moving’. So I decided to start moving myself. I played solid all day, despite the hiccup on 17.
“I hit it quite close in that stretch of holes. It felt like every putt I looked at I saw the line straight away and felt good about every putt.
Should she complete the job tomorrow, De Roey would add a second Ladies European Tour (LET) title to her name following her breakthrough win at the 2022 Aramco Team Series – Bangkok event.
“I’m really looking forward to the final round,” she continued. “I’ve been playing quite solid all year with a few top-10s. I’ll just keep doing what I’ve been doing the last two days, make some putts and we’ll see what happens.”
In second place on 11-under par sits Laklalech. The Moroccan had a sensational afternoon carding seven birdies and one eagle to share the lead with De Roey with two holes to play. A double-bogey on the 17th stopped her momentum, but the one time LET winner still sits in fantastic shape heading into Sunday after the 65 (-7).
“It was a really nice round”, Laklalech said. “That kind of round where everything clicked. You don’t think too much and the putting felt good. I also played with really nice people so had a really nice day.
“We saw a little bit of everything concerning the weather. The front nine we got some strong gusts of wind and then it died on the back nine. I love the 17th hole – maybe not my score there but I like tricky holes and will take some revenge there on Sunday.
“I’m feeling great. The game feels good and I really like the area here. I hope we get some nice weather and I’m looking forward to it.”
One back in solo second sits Sweden’s Lisa Pettersson after the 2023 Helsingborg Open winner carded a 67 (-5).
New Zealand’s Momoka Kobori is fourth on nine-under par thanks to a 68 (-4). The English duo of Gabriella Cowley and Rosie Davies share fifth on eight-under par.
Three players share seventh on eight-under par, a trio which includes Switzerland’s Kim Metraux, England’s Ellie Givens, and home favourite Nicole Garcia who carded the round of the week 64 (-8).
The fourth and final round of the Investec SA Women’s Open gets underway tomorrow at 9:00am local time.
You can watch LIVE and follow along with all the action on our socials – @LETgolf on Instagram, TikTok and X, and Ladies European Tour on YouTube and Facebook – #RaiseOurGame | #InvestecSAWomensOpen.
