Annabel Dimmock fired a spectacular bogey-free 65 (-8) to move into top spot with one day remaining of the KPMG Women’s Irish Open.
The English star began the day in a share of fourth place after rounds of 72 (-1) and 66 (-7) on the first two days at the O’Meara Course at Carton House.
However, the LET winner found her form from yesterday beginning with a birdie on the first before making further birdies on holes four, seven and nine.
Dimmock added another birdie on the tenth before finishing in style with three birdies in her final four holes to seal the best round of the week with a 65 and sit at the top of the leaderboard with 16-under-par.
“It’s hard to sum up,” said Dimmock, who is searching for her second LET title. “I actually lost count of my score.
“I asked the scorer coming off 18 what did I shoot today because I was thinking after was it a putt to beat my own course record? I knocked that birdie in on 18 which felt good. I’m very happy.
“I actually played really well on the first day as well, but I missed a lot of putts. I unfortunately had a three-putt, I got a bit frustrated when I wasn’t holing anything. I had a 20-footer, and I banged it six foot past and three-putted.
“It was one of those rounds I could never get going. I played just as good as I did today and the day before, but then after the first round I went on the putting green. My putting felt a tiny bit off, I didn’t have my normal feels with it, and I went and sorted it out.”
It was a record-breaking day for the KPMG Women’s Irish Open with 12,051 spectators on Saturday – the most people attending a single day at the tournament since it came back onto the LET calendar in 2022.
Dimmock has been on the comeback trail from a thumb injury since last September and she had surgery at the start of the year and her journey was filmed in a documentary with adidasGolf which was released yesterday.
The 27-year-old now has a different perspective with golf and is hoping to stick to her own game plan on the final day in Ireland.
Dimmock continued: “No matter what happens tomorrow, this week has been huge for me! To know that I’m still there, don’t forget about me. My documentary came out yesterday.
“I’m pleased I played well and shot seven-under because I didn’t want people to feel sorry for me. It’s been a really rough eight months that I was out. I was working so hard to get myself back, ready and fit. It’s really hard. I haven’t had a day off in a long time.
“I think I don’t get too high on the highs now because I know there might not be that around the corner. I don’t get down with the lows, I have been through so much that I genuinely do feel quite bulletproof in golf and especially on the course.
“I will go out there and stick to my game plan and I said to my dad at the start of the week that if I can swing in this good tempo all week, we’ve won this week. That’s what I’m going to go out there and do tomorrow, I’m not going to try and push too hard or anything like that and we’ll see where we are at the end of the day.”
Finland’s Ursula Wikstrom, who held the 36-hole lead, produced a round of 69 (-4) on day three to sit two shots behind leader Dimmock.
The Finn made birdies on the first and third holes before dropping a shot on the eighth, she then went birdie-bogey on holes 10 and 11 to be one-under for the day.
But it was a good finish for Wikstrom, who rolled in birdies on 15, 17 and 18 to finish with a flourish and have a total of 14-under-par with one round remaining.
“Today was a little bit tougher out there,” said the Finnish player. “The wind was much tougher, so it made it not that easy to get it close to the pins. My putter was not as hot, but luckily towards the end it was getting a bit better.
“The last two holes were playing pretty easy with the wind, 17 hasn’t been reachable for me the last two days but now it was easily reachable. It makes it easier, but it’s also good that I was able to deliver those birdies.
“It’s a mental game and things like that [getting birdies in her final holes] makes a big difference, it’s easier and you feel a little bit lighter walking off the course with birdies rather than bogeys.
“I think the leaderboard is pretty packed and there’s going to be a lot of good scores coming in. If conditions are fairly easy and the wind doesn’t start picking up too much, I think you need to shoot low to have a chance of taking the trophy with you.”
Italy’s Alessandra Fanali and Spain’s Luna Sobron Galmes sit in share of third place on 12-under-par after they both carded a 70 (-3) on day three.
“It was fun, I really liked it,” said Fanali. “It was so much fun; I didn’t hit some good irons in the middle from hole 10 through 12 but then actually played really good. I tried to go for the green but made a bogey on 15. The rest was very solid.
“I’m very confident, the golf course really suits me. It’s very playable and tomorrow is supposed to be another nice day. We can go low. Annabel went very low today, and it was nice to watch because we were playing just behind. I can go low tomorrow as well, so you never know.”
France’s Pauline Roussin-Bouchard is in outright fifth place on 11-under-par after a four-under 69 on day three in Ireland.
Sweden’s Corinne Viden and Australia’s Kirsten Rudgeley are just one shot further back in T6, meanwhile Slovenia’s Pia Babnik, Belgium’s Manon De Roey, Sweden’s Linnea Johansson and Switzerland’s Chiara Tamburlini round out the top 10 on nine-under-par.
The final round will begin at 9.50 am (local time) with the leading group teeing off at 11.50 am (local time) at Carton House.
Follow all the action throughout the tournament on our socials – @LETgolf on Instagram, TikTok and X, and Ladies European Tour on YouTube and Facebook – #RaiseOurGame #KPMGWIO.
