A birdie on the final hole ensured Lucie Malchirand secured the outright lead at the Ladies Italian Open, as she sits on seven-under-par for the tournament.
The French amateur continued her fine form at Golf Club Margara producing a solid round which saw her make two birdies and two bogeys before she rolled in a birdie on the par-five 18th for a round of 71 to put her one shot clear of England’s Gabriella Cowley.
“It was a long day today, I played well but my putting wasn’t that good, so I missed a lot of putts. It was a great day one-under-par is still a good score, so it was nice,” said Malchirand, who was part of Team Europe at the 2019 PING Junior Solheim Cup.
“I knew that it was a par-five on the last and I made it, so that was great. I was much calmer than yesterday, I played with my friends again which was nice. I think it’s going to be quite stressful tomorrow morning, but I will try to do my best. Tomorrow is going to be a good day I’m sure, I will try to do my game like today and yesterday.”
Cowley kept up the pace also carding a 71 to give her second place outright and be one shot behind the leader with the final round to come. The Englishwoman birdied the fifth hole and then made a double bogey at the eighth but bounced back immediately with birdies on 10 and 11.
“I played great yesterday and I didn’t really do much wrong. Today I didn’t really play as well on the front nine but as the round went on, I started to play a lot better and gave myself a lot more chances and played really good,” Cowley, who is playing her sixth season on the LET.
“I’m hitting my driver well so I’m giving myself a lot of chances. I’m rolling the ball good so it’s just about finding the fairways. I’m not putting a lot of expectations on myself; I just want to go out and play every shot as it comes, keep hitting the ball well and give myself as many chances as possible.”
Spain’s Maria Hernandez, who shot a 68 making five birdies and one bogey, and South Africa’s Lejan Lewthwaite sit a shot further back at five-under-par.
India’s Tvesa Malik shot the best round of the day carding a 66, which included nine birdies, to move up the leaderboard to T5 alongside Italian amateur Carolina Melgrati.
Eight players are T7 for the tournament including yesterday’s co-leader Ellie Givens, Austria’s Sarah Schober, Finland’s Sanna Nuutinen, Germany’s Olivia Cowan, Italy’s Roberta Liti, Wales’ Chloe Williams, Norway’s Tonje Daffinrud and Australia’s Stephanie Kyriacou.
The cut fell at +4, with 64 players advancing to the final round.
