Chiara Tamburlini produced a round of 68 (-3) on day two at the Jabra Ladies Open to hold a one-shot lead at the 36-hole mark in France.
The LET Order of Merit winner began the day in a share of seventh place after an opening 67 (-4) at Evian Resort Golf Club.
Tamburlini began the day on the 15th tee, she dropped a shot on 16 but bounced back with a birdie on 17.
The 25-year-old then made birdies on the first, fourth, seventh and 11th before dropping another shot on 12 for her round of 68 and to lead with a score of seven-under-par.
“Yesterday was a bit of a rollercoaster, I had lots of birdies,” said Tamburlini. “Today was a bit more solid, I still hit a couple of bad tee shots, but they were all on par-fives where I could basically chip out and get myself back in play, so it was alright.
“I made a couple of good putts. I had good fun again with Mimi [Rhodes], it was just a two-some but it was very enjoyable playing with her. I’m excited for tomorrow, I’m going to have to work a bit on my chipping because every time I seem to miss a green, I seem to be making bogeys.
“I chipped three times today and made two bogeys. I missed the green on my last hole and made 10-footer for par, so I wouldn’t say that was an easy par. That was how the bogeys happened and a lot of two-putt pars. My speed control was really good because I had a couple of 50/60-footers that I hit really well, so it was quite stress-free from that point of view.”
Tamburlini is in search of her fourth LET title having won the Joburg Ladies Open, Lacoste Ladies Open de France, and Wistron Ladies Open in 2024.
The Swiss star is hoping to enjoy her final day in France with her mum on the bag before heading to the U.S. Women’s Open next week.
“I just checked the leaderboard and saw most of the girls who were pretty far up haven’t even started yet, so you don’t know where you’re going to be standing at the end of the day,” she continued. “But I’m definitely in a good position, I’m going to try and make lots of birdies again.
“On this course especially it’s important to not get too ahead of yourself because it’s so important to hit the fairways because from there you can give yourself much better chances than from the rough. Also, not forcing it too much, so just a happy medium really, and I have mum on the bag again, so that will be fun for sure.”
Sara Kouskova is in outright second place on six-under-par having followed an opening round of 66 (-5) with a round of 70 (-1) on day two in France.
The Czech player only had one bogey on her scorecard and also rolled in birdies at the eighth and 18th holes.
“It’s been good,” said Kouskova. “There’s been lots of solid shots and some putts went in again today. I thought it played a little tougher today, especially with the pins and I had to save a couple of pars.
“I didn’t manage to save one on four, but the rest was really nice. I had two hard lip-outs, which I thought at least one of them could have gone in, but it was a good round today.
“I think we did manage to focus on shot at a time and I was really happy that we managed to do so because it’s really one shot at a time here. I was happy that we stuck to that plan.”
Singapore’s Shannon Tan carded a round of 67 (-4) on the second day of the Jabra Ladies Open to move into third place on five-under-par.
The Olympian dropped her only shot of the day at the 16th and rolled in birdies on the first, seventh, 12th, 13th and 15th holes.
“Honestly, I would say today was quite good except a bit of a fumble on 16, 17 and 18, but I still made par on 17 and 18,” said the LET winner.
“Comparing how I played here the past two days to last year, the work I have put in the past few months has paid off. I already knew I was playing the Amundi Evian Championship this year, so I knew there were some things I needed to work on.
“Looking back at last year, I looked at my stats and I realised you never get a flat lie here. Now I have figured out what I do in my technique and what result it produces, so that’s one of the things I have really worked on. That’s also part of the rookie year is to learn and experience and play on these different types of courses. The past two days has been good in that sense as I’ve figured out what to do and when I need to do it.
“I will try and hit it in the right spots. I will look at the pins and figure out where is the best place to miss. There are some backstops here where you can use the slopes to your advantage, so I’m going to sit down and look at the pins and get a game plan. Overall, it’s fairways and greens like usual.”
India’s Hitaashee Bakshi fired the round of the day with a 66 (-5) which included six birdies and one bogey to move into a share of fourth place.
“Today was a sunny day! That’s all I will say because yesterday I teed off around 3.20 pm so it rained the whole day for me,” said the 20-year-old. “A sunny day was the main highlight.
“I would say I was doing most things quite well, a score of five-under suggests that. I had a mix of different birdies, some were really close like on 15 I teed off and I was inches away from an eagle, but the rest were good 20-footers in as well. I’m just going to play my game and see where that takes me.”
Bakshi sits alongside USA’s Brianna Navarrosa, Thailand’s April Angurasaranee, New Zealand’s Momoka Kobori, England’s Annabell Fuller and French amateur Valentine Delon in T4 on four-under-par.
Four players are in a tie for 10th place with Morocco’s Maha Haddioui, Spain’s Amaia Latorre, England’s Cara Gainer, and Australia’s Kelsey Bennett all on three-under.
The cut fell at +4 with 68 players making it through to the final day. Round three will begin at 8.30 am (local time) with the leaders teeing off at 11.10 am (local time).
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