Meghan MacLaren carded a round of 70 (-2) and leads by one shot after two rounds at the Australian Women’s Classic – Bonville.
The Englishwoman held the lead after the opening day and at the end of day two when play was suspended due to heavy rainfall at Bonville Golf Resort.
MacLaren, who has won twice on the LET, completed the final eight holes of her second round making two bogeys and a birdie to be on seven-under-par.
Due to the weather delay, the tournament has now been shortened to 54 holes with the final round to be played on Sunday.
The 27-year-old, who resumed her round on the 11th green, said: “It was a tough place to restart. You could probably tell I was having troubled trusting the pace of the greens – when they’ve had so much water on them, it’s hard to get that feel straight away and I paid the price a couple of times. You can warm up on the practice green, but it’s never quite the same as on the course.
“The birdie putt on 15 was important, especially on reflection. I’d had a few things happen on the holes before that didn’t go the way I saw them, so to have that fall in just felt good and gave me a positive thought for those final few holes, where I felt much better.
“I was really happy on Thursday and Friday not to have any bogeys, but when I had those couple today, I was also happy not to compound them and finish off well. I left a couple of chances slip late out there, but I’m happy overall.”
Spain’s Carmen Alonso is in second place on the leaderboard after shooting a round of 70 to be six-under-par.
The 37-year-old dropped a shot on the seventh as she made a bogey and finished her round with a par on the eighth.
“I made a stupid mistake with the bogey. I thought I was going to go over the bunker, but with the rain I didn’t, and the ball was plugged. I chipped it out to the fairway and then I hit it before the green and it was two putts,” said Alonso.
“I’m happy to be in the clubhouse. This golf course for me is very challenging. To have a score of -6 is great and we will see what happens tomorrow.”
England’s Alice Hewson is one shot further back in third place on five-under-par having shot a bogey-free round of 70.
Hewson explained: “I played really solidly yesterday afternoon. I was really happy with how I was playing; I was hitting it quite close but just not making the putts. It was a slightly different story today, I hit 17 out of 18 greens for the round in total but I wasn’t as close this afternoon.
“I relied a little bit more on my lag putting, but overall, I’m really happy with how I played, and I gave myself some chances.
“I feel my game is trending really nicely. A couple of inconsistent results recently but trending in a direction that I’m really happy with. I’m hitting a lot of greens and a lot of fairways, if a couple of putts start to drop, we could get some low scores going.”
Two players are tied for fourth place with Sweden’s Maja Stark and Argentina’s Maggie Simmermacher on four-under-par, after they both signed for rounds of 70.
“I knew it was going to be damage control with the weather. It was a very steady round with one bogey and three birdies. I wasn’t really close to a bogey at any other time, so I was really happy about my game,” said two-time LET winner Stark.
Simmermacher added: “I played eight holes today, it went well, and I saved a lot of pars because the greens were tricky and bit slow with the rain. I saved some good putts, but I also played consistently, so it was a good finish to the round.”
Sarah Hammett, the reigning NSW Amateur champion, also shot a round of 70 to be in outright sixth place on three-under-par.
“I’m really happy. My ambition at the start of the week was to make the cut, so to be going okay in such a talented field, it’s pretty cool,” said the 15-year-old.
“Coming in here I knew the competition was going to be tough and I didn’t think that I’d be as high up as I am, but I’m just finding it great to be in such a good field. I feel really good about myself, knowing my game can compare to some of the really good players.
“It’s the second bogey-free round I’ve ever had and in those conditions I’m very proud of that. I’d say it’s one of my favourite rounds. In the middle I made some good up and downs and saved some pars, which was important.”
Five players round out the top 10 on seven-under-par including Wales’ Becky Brewerton, Italy’s Virginia Elena Carta and Alexandra Swayne of the US Virgin Islands.
The cut fell at +8 with 74 players making it to the final round which will get underway at 8.15am local time on Sunday.
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