4 November 2016

Georgia Hall is the leader at the Fatima bint Mubarak Ladies Open after three rounds

 

 

Georgia Hall will take a one-shot lead into the final round of the inaugural Fatima bint Mubarak Ladies Open on Saturday at the Saadiyat Beach Golf Club.

The Englishwoman, 20, overcame windy conditions to card a third round 67 to hold a narrow advantage over Australian Sarah Kemp in the Ladies European Tour (LET) event.

A shot further behind Kemp is compatriot Melissa Reid and American Beth Allen.

 

Hall returned with a two-under 34 on the front nine and then picked up the pace on the back nine, coming back in 33 with three straight birdies from the 14th hole.

"I’m going to be happy about my round today and when I wake up tomorrow it’s a new round," said Hall.

"Eighteen holes is a lot of golf and anything can happen. I’m going to go out there and take it shot by shot and if I end up winning then that’s amazing."

 

She added: "I hit every fairway, so I’m happy about that. On 14 I hit it to one and a half foot, so that was almost a tap-in and probably the best shot of the day.

"I stayed patient on the front nine, because I had a silly three-putt from about 12 feet, but I’m happy with that five-under and looking forward to tomorrow."

Hall’s closest challenger, Kemp, is upbeat despite a bogey on the final hole costing her chance of sharing the lead.

 

"Overall it was a good day," she said. "There are plenty of birdies out there, so I’m going to have to shoot a low number, maybe a little bit better than today. We’ll see.

"There are plenty of birdies out there, so I’m going to have to shoot a low number, maybe a little bit better than today. We’ll see."

Reid and Allen also lamented bogeys on the last hole, despite rounds of 68 and 69 respectively.

 

Reid said: "It was tough. I was reading too much into the line which is why I left a four-foot putt short, which was just ridiculous.

 

"I’m back in the mix. You’re going to have to shoot a low one tomorrow because everyone is shooting low scores out here."

Allen was content with keeping herself in contention for the chance to go to the top of the LET Order Of Merit today.

She needs a third-place finish in the competition to overtake the 2015 winner Shanshan Feng at the top.

"I’m not unpleased but I felt that it was tougher and the wind was different today," said Allen.

 

"I made two bad mistakes on the front nine, on eight and nine. I bogeyed the last, but had a shot at par. Three under is a good score but I feel this place is pretty scoreable.

"I know I can do better and tomorrow is really exciting. I’m going to do my best. I will go as low as I can and be really aggressive because everyone is going to have that mentality."

Olafia Kristinsdottir of Iceland, who led on the first two days, was unable to keep up her form as a round of 74 dropped her down the leaderboard to joint fifth, four strokes off the lead.

 

The final round gets under way at 7.20am on Saturday, with the leading trio of Hall, Reid and Kemp starting at 11.26am.

 

Source: The National