Belgium’s Manon De Roey will take a three-stroke lead into Sunday’s final round of the Investec South African Women’s Open at the Erinvale Country and Golf Estate.
De Roey signed for a 66 on Saturday as she climbed to 14 under par. Her nearest challenger is Morocco’s Ines Laklalech whose 65 carried her to 11 under par.
South Africa’s Nicole Garcia surged through the field with an impressive eight-under-par 64, lifting her to seven under par overall.
De Roey showed tremendous composure on a day of shifting conditions in the wind and where she had to withstand a few runs at her lead.
“When I saw the leaderboard on 13 I suddenly realised, ‘Ok, people are moving’. So I decided to start moving myself. But I tried to stay patient all day. I created chances for myself and I played solid all day. I thought it was going to be more windy and to be honest, I prefer the wind because I can shape the ball more. But I just picked my targets and lines and tried to commit to every shot,” said De Roey.
Her most dominant stretch came on the back nine where she made five birdies in six holes to distance herself from the field.
“I hit it quite close in that stretch of holes. It felt like every putt I looked at I saw the line straight away and felt good about every putt.”
De Roey has had a strong season thus far with several top-10s on the Ladies European Tour and now finds herself chasing one of the most historic titles in South African women’s golf.
“I’m really looking forward to the final round. I’ve been playing quite solid all year. I’ll just keep doing what I’ve been doing the last two days, make some putts and we’ll see what happens.”
As her nearest challenger, Lacklalech kept herself in touch of the lead for most of the round before a double bogey on 17.
“It was a really nice round. That kind of round where everything clicked. You don’t think too much and the putting felt good. I also played with really nice people so had a really nice day. But on 17, I was in one of those deep greenside bunkers. It was close to the face so I wasn’t sure if my ball was going to come out and I put too much speed on the shot. But I’m feeling great. The game feels good,” she said.
Garcia has her own target as the leading South African looking for a strong finish on home fairways.
“We’ll see what the weather brings on Sunday. This tournament is so special. It’s one of the oldest women’s tournaments in our country and you have so many big names that have won it before, so to have a chance to join that group of names and leave a legacy is something special.”
SCORES:
202 - Manon De Roey (BEL) 69 67 66
205 - Ines Laklalech (MAR) 70 70 65
206 - Lisa Pettersson (SWE) 68 71 67
207 - Momoka Kobori (NZL) 69 70 68
208 - Gabriella Cowley (ENG) 69 72 67, Rosie Davies (ENG) 66 71 71
209 - Nicole Garcia 76 69 64, Kim Metraux (SUI) 70 71 68, Eleanor Givens (ENG) 69 71 69
210 - Hannah Burke (ENG) 68 72 70
211 - Sarah Schober (AUT) 70 76 65, Kristyna Napoleaova (CZE) 71 75 65, Jana Melichova (CZE) 69 74 68, Elena Moosmann (SUI) 66 75 70, Julie Boysen Hillestad (NOR) 67 73 71
212 - Patricia Isabel Schmidt (GER) 71 71 70
213 - Sara Kjellker (SWE) 70 73 70, Liz Young (ENG) 68 73 72
214 - Emma Spitz (AUT) 73 75 66, Casandra Alexander 73 75 66, Hannah Screen (ENG) 71 73 70, Bronte Law (ENG) 68 76 70, Katja Pogacar (SVN) 71 72 71, April Angurasaranee (THA) 72 71 71
215 - Dorthea Forbrigd (NOR) 72 73 70, Nastasia Nadaud (FRA) 68 76 71, Caroline Hedwall (SWE) 71 73 71, Annabell Fuller (ENG) 68 71 76
216 - Lora Assad 73 73 70, Sanna Nuutinen (FIN) 71 75 70, Sofie Kibsgaard (DEN) 73 72 71, Virginia Elena Carta (ITA) 70 74 72, Stacy Bregman 72 71 73, Carolin Kauffmann (GER) 71 71 74
217 - Lydia Hall (WAL) 71 76 70, Chiara Tamburlini (SUI) 70 75 72, Emily Penttila (FIN) 72 72 73, Diksha Dagar (IND) 73 70 74
218 - Amy Taylor (ENG) 73 75 70, Alice Hewson (ENG) 74 74 70, Moa Folke (SWE) 75 72 71, Mireia Prat (ESP) 70 75 73, Danielle du Toit 74 70 74, Romy Meekers (NED) 70 74 74, Lily May Humphreys (ENG) 73 69 76, Madelene Stavnar (NOR) 70 71 77
219 - Alexandra Swayne (ISV) 69 79 71, Emma Grechi (FRA) 74 74 71, Sofie Bringner (SWE) 74 72 73, Laura Fuenfstueck (GER) 76 70 73, Celine Herbin (FRA) 70 76 73, Christine Wolf (AUT) 69 74 76, Gemma Clews (ENG) 74 68 77
220 - Tiffany Arafi (SUI) 73 73 74, Fernanda Lira (MEX) 75 70 75
221 - Tereza Melecka (CZE) 77 71 73, Anne-Charlotte Mora (FRA) 76 71 74, Olivia Mehaffey (NIR) 79 68 74
223 - Genevieve Ling (MAS) 73 75 75, Tara Griebenow 75 72 76, Aunchisa Utama (THA) 70 74 79
224 - Kylie Henry (SCO) 71 77 76, Lee-Anne Pace 68 79 77
225 - Georgina Blackman (ENG) 76 72 77, Shannon Tan (SIN) 69 78 78