Scotland’s Kylie Henry will be the frontrunner in the final round of the Standard Bank Ladies Open hosted by the City of Cape Town at Royal Cape Golf Club, after she posted a three-under-par 71 on Thursday to stretch her lead to three shots ahead of the last day on Friday.
The 37-year-old is on eight-under-par overall after two rounds on the par-74, 5738 metre Royal Cape layout. Henry came from two strokes back to win the Dimension Data Ladies Pro-Am at Fancourt a month ago, but her previous Ladies European Tour victory came at the 2014 German Open when she led after the second and third rounds, her three straight 64s giving her record tallies for 36 and 54 holes on that tour.
A pair of South Africans are once again Investec Order of Merit leader Henry’s closest challengers, but now it is Casandra Alexander and Gabrielle Venter, who both shot 69s on Thursday to move to five-under-par.
Shawnelle de Lange (71) and Lora Assad (72) were second and third after the first round, but De Lange shot 77 in the second round to slip back to level-par, and Assad made 78 to slide to two-over.
SuperSport Ladies Challenge winner Tvesa Malik is on four-under-par in a tie for fourth with France’s Emie Peronnin and Englishwoman Florentyna Parker. They all shot three-under 71s on Thursday.
De Lange initially kept in contact with Henry, but then a seven on the par-five 16th and a bogey on the par-four 17th saw her fall away.
Henry battled a bit to find her best game on the front nine, going out in level-par as she dropped shots on the first, seventh and eighth holes. But she also made back-to-back birdies on the third and fourth holes, and then again on nine and 10. The two-time Ladies European Tour winner’s beautiful ball-striking then enabled her to birdie the par-five 14th and 16th holes, as well as the par-three 16th for her to pull a little clear of the chasing pack.
SCORES:
140 - Kylie Henry (SCO) 69 71
143 - Casandra Alexander 74 69, Gabrielle Venter 74 69
144 - Emie Peronnin (FRA) 73 71, Florentyna Parker (ENG) 73 71, Tvesa Malik (IND) 73 71
145 - Vanessa Knecht (SUI) 76 69
146 - Harang Lee (ESP) 74 72, Kiera Floyd 73 73, Anna Magnusson (SWE) 75 71, Georgia Coughlin (ENG) 75 71
147 - Danielle du Toit 76 71, Verena Gimmy (GER) 77 70, Alexandra Swayne (ISV) 76 71
148 - Nicole Garcia 75 73, Maiken Bing Paulsen (NOR) 73 75, Romy Meekers (NED) 76 72, Stacy Bregman 77 71, Chante van Zyl 74 74, Kristin Sim (NOR) 74 74, Shawnelle de Lange 71 77, Nina Pegova (WHT) 75 73
149 - Maho Hayakawa (JPN) 75 74, Carolin Kauffmann (GER) 76 73, Helen Kreuzer (GER) 76 73, Ariane Klotz (FRA) 73 76
150 - Louise Duncan (SCO) 76 74, Amy Taylor (ENG) 77 73, Lora Assad 72 78
151 - Tina Mazarino (NOR) 75 76, Bonita Bredenhann (NAM) 77 74, Brittney-Fay Berger 76 75, Isabella van Rooyen 78 73
Sunshine Tour