England’s Cara Gainer and Australia’s Gabriela Ruffels both sit top of the leaderboard on 11-under par at The Amundi Evian Championship, with 18 holes remaining at Evian Resort Golf Club.
Gainer, making her Evian debut, surged up the leaderboard with a stunning third-round 64 (-7), highlighted by an eagle on the 7th and six additional birdies.
“I made a great par save on the first which really settled my nerves”, said the LET winner. “Then made a great putt on the second hole for birdie. I think one-under through two, kind of settled me down and I rolled a nice putt in again on four. My eagle putt was definitely a highlight of the day. I hit a great drive, a great hybrid into the green – about ten feet and holed the putt.”
Gainer was at Evian Resort Golf Club just a couple of months ago for the Jabra Ladies Open. She finished third there, so she said she had confidence coming from that tournament. She admitted it’s set up slightly differently this week, but has good feelings about this beautiful place.
She continued: “I think that win massively sort of propelled me I guess at the beginning of the year. I took a lot of confidence from that, having had quite a few close calls in the past. I think I just sort of, yeah, took loads of confidence and rolled with it the rest of the season.”
Away from the golf course, Gainer has been enjoying morning runs along the Lake Geneva. This week, she’s also had the support of her family, with her mum, dad, and fiancé by her side. A passionate tennis fan, she’s been keeping up with all the Wimbledon action – her evening plans sorted.
The Englishwoman was alongside home favourite Celine Boutier, so had a big crowd following her the whole way.
Heading into tomorrow, she doesn’t want to think about it too much.
“I want to play similar to today. I was pretty nervous playing with Celine [Boutier], obviously a home favourite. But I just want to take it one shot at a time like I’ve been doing the whole week and add it up at the end.”
Joining Gainer at the top heading into the final day of the major is Ruffels. The Aussie got off to a shaky start with a bogey on the opening hole but bounced back immediately with a birdie, then added six more to her impressive round.
“I’m having so much fun. This is what you practice for, what you play for. I’ve been working so hard, and it’s great to see the hard work pay off. This is the position you want to be in. I’m for sure looking forward to tomorrow.
“I think my ball striking has been good for a while, and it’s kind of showing this week as well as well as my putting. I’ve made a lot of putts inside 15 feet, which has been crucial.”
One shot behind in a tie for third place on 10-under par are four players including fellow Aussie’s Minjee Lee and Grace Kim, Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikul, and South Korea’s Somi Lee.
Lee delivered a flawless, bogey-free performance to cap off a strong third round for the 2021 major champion.
“It was pretty steady. I didn’t make too many big mistakes. When I was a little off the fairway or green I was able to get up and down. I had a couple clutch par putts to keep my momentum going and it’s always nice to have a bogey-free round.”
Thitikul is also is in the mix, and will be chasing a major win for the first time tomorrow.
“I think the best part of the last three days is keeping my ball in play. It’s been pretty narrow here. I think if you can keep your ball on the fairway, you might have a really good chance for making birdie.”
Japan’s Yuri Yoshida carded 63 for the round to sit in T7 on nine-under par, alongside South Africa’s Casandra Alexander.
Despite managing an ACL injury this season, Alexander is only two shots back heading into the final round.
“Today I played really nicely on the front nine. I think it was really solid. Then, towards the back nine there were the tougher holes, that stretch, 11, 12, 13, I just got myself in some unfortunate positions that were difficult to make par from. Otherwise it was okay. Nothing great. Nothing terrible. So hopefully can have a good one tomorrow.”
The recent LET winner reflected on her whole major experience and said: “It’s always special. You know, this is what we work so hard for, and the crowds have been amazing. Seeing young girls coming out to watch – we can hopefully inspire them and see them out here in a couple years. You always get those cool stories like when Helen [Briem] posted a picture of the Korda’s from four years ago.”
Heading into tomorrow, she said: “You just got to play your own game and not think about everything else. I think the biggest problem with majors is people overthink it. It’s just another golf course and another round of golf, and that’s how I’m going to tackle it tomorrow.”
France’s Nastasia Nadaud, South Korea’s Jenny Shin, and Hye-Jin Choi are a further shot back in T9 on eight-under par.
“It was really great”, said Nadaud. “I started off quite slowly let’s say, and then made a clutch birdie on 13. Chipped it in from behind the green which really helped me to get like into my game.”
Adding to her special major debut, Nadaud was in a group with Nelly Korda and Minjee Lee, and following the round they took a group picture together.
Commenting on when she found out she was in a group with the both of them, she said: “I think I shouted in my room. I was like, that’s absolutely insane. I was really excited about that. They were kind of my idols. I saw them when I was here like seven years ago for the Junior Cup, took pictures with them, and now playing with them, it’s just amazing.”
It’s been a really strong showing from the LET players, with lots in contention heading into the final round at Evian Resort Golf Club.
Yoshida secured round of the day (-8) alongside China’s Ruixin Lin.
World number one amateur Lottie Woad carded six birdies across her third round, to sit in T19 alongside Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn.
The final round of The Amundi Evian Championship gets underway tomorrow at 8:10am local time. The leaders will go out at 10:22am.
Watch live and follow all the action throughout the tournament on our socials – @LETgolf on Instagram, TikTok and X, and Ladies European Tour on YouTube and Facebook – #evianchamp.
