Hall moves to top of the leaderboard at Omega Dubai Ladies Masters
Omega Dubai ladies Masters Day 2 – Lydia Hall fired a cracking 67, the day’s best round, to move atop the leaderboard going into the penultimate round of the Omega Dubai Ladies Masters at the Emirates Golf Club on Thursday.
The 22-year-old from Bridgend in South Wales carded seven birdies and two bogeys to go seven-under for the tournament on a total of 137, one shot ahead of Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist who signed off with a bogey-free 68. Denmark’s Iben Tinning, who is calling it quits after this season-ending Ladies European Tour event, was a shot further back after a 69.
Russian Maria Verchenova, Norwegian Marianne Skarpnord and England’s Melissa Reid ended the day tied for fourth.
Britain’s all-time great Laura Davies just managed to make the cut which fell at five-over-par, but her hopes of winning the Henderson Money List – and also the tournament – were dashed by an ugly triple bogey on the eighth. With rounds of 75 and 73 under her belt, she will be playing the next two rounds for fun, as she said.
American superstar Michelle Wie slipped down the leaderboard to a tied 16th after a level-par 72, a good six shots off the pace. So was the case with defending champion In-Kyung Kim who was tied 22th after a head-scratching round of 75.
Among those missing the cut included UAE prodigy Rhea Nair. Playing her first event as a professional, the 21-year-old played her last 13 holes one-under par before carding a 75 to finish 10-over for the tournament.
It was Hall who stood tall. She started out with a hat-trick of birdies from the second and turned in four under 31 after picking up two more shots on the sixth and the eighth holes. She came home in one-under 36 after a bogey at the 10th and two closing birdies.
“I just played really solid. Tee-to-green was really, really good; approach shots within 15 feet on the front nine,” said the third year Ladies European Tour player, who this season posted a career best tie for sixth at the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco.
“I just played really solid and the putts, got them rolling. I was really pleased. I made a couple of mistakes on nine and 10 with a three-putt on 10, but I just refocused and gained concentration.”
Tinning was in no mood let anyone spoil her farewell party as she made a good charge up the leaderboard. The former European number one from Denmark followed her 70 with a tidy 69 despite a bogey-bogey finish.
Tinning, who finished runner-up to Annika Sorenstam in 2007, was pleased with her efforts. “I haven’t played a tournament since mid-October, so I am pretty happy with my golf. Obviously, finishing off with two bogeys is not very nice. But that’s golf,” said Tinning who is playing her last competitive event before calling it quits.
“I'm too injured. It's not possible. There's pain in my hip and it hurts every time I walk, so it's not really an option, unless I get absolutely fit all of a sudden,” she said.
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Overnight leader Florentyna Parker carded a 75 and ended the day five shots back in 10th. American Michelle Wiecarded a level-par 72 and finished in a tie for 16th position but seemed to be managing a persistent back injury as she appeared to limp around the course.
In the race for the Henderson Money List title, Lee-Anne Pace’s only challenger Laura Davies effectively conceded defeat in her battle to claim Europe’s number one crown.
England’s Davies was seeking a top three finish to overtake the South African but shot a 73 to finish the day in tied 48th on four-over. Pace carded a 72 to tie for 25th on one-over-par.
Davies was two under for the round after 16 holes but stumbled to a triple bogey on the 389-yard par four eighth, which was her penultimate hole.
Davies said: “The tournament is over for me as far as I'm concerned. It's now just a matter of playing and trying to get a couple of really good under par rounds on the weekend.”
