Melissa Reid gained a four stroke advantage early in the final round of the Turkish Airlines Ladies Open on Wednesday after her closest competitor Pamela Pretswell dropped four shots on the first five holes.
One stroke ahead overnight, Reid birdied the first hole before Pretswell double bogeyed the second and then bogeyed the third to hand Reid a three stroke advantage.
The 2010 tournament champion, Reid then went four ahead when Prestwell and Watson both dropped a shot at the fifth hole, but the 2011 European Solheim Cup player then made her own bogey on the par-5 sixth hole and Watson birdied the seventh to get within two of the lead.
Reid, 27, from Derby in England, won the Turkish Airlines Ladies Open when it was played at nearby National Golf Club in 2010 and she claimed the last of her four Ladies European Tour titles at the Raiffeisenbank Prague Golf Masters in June 2012, a month after the loss of her mother Joy in a road accident during the Ladies German Open near Munich.
This year, Reid has shown glimpses of her best form with a second place finish at the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco in March and her career best round of eight under par 65 in the first round of the Turkish Airlines Ladies Open at Carya Golf Club on Sunday.
Despite a healthy lead, there are still several players in the hunt including Watson, Gwladys Nocera, Dame Laura Davies and Lucie Andre. The tournament is being covered live on Sky Sports in the UK, Golf Channel in the USA and other broadcasters internationally.
