(21 January 2012 – Canberra, Australia)
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Australian Karen Lunn hopes her experience of playing Royal Canberra Golf Club since her junior days will bear fruit in the final round of the ActewAGL Royal Canberra Ladies Classic.
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rnOne of the most experienced players in the field will be looking to secure her first major tournament since she won the Portugal Ladies Open in 2010.
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rnShe fired an impressive 7-under par 66 during the second round to take the outright lead at 9-under heading into the final round of the Ladies Classic. Lunn will take a three shot lead over England’s Kym Larratt who carded her second consecutive round of 3-under par. Local favourite Nikki Campbell is outright third at 5-under par also firing a round of 70.
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rnLunn posted six birdies, a lone bogey at the par-3 17th, before hitting a superb hybrid from 208 yards on the par 5 18th to three feet, from which she proceeded to sink her eagle chance.
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rnAfter her round she said, “It was good. I played well and holed a few putts when it mattered and didn’t make many mistakes."
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rnShe also commented, “It is really tough test of golf around here, there is no hiding.”
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rnLunn grew up in Cowra and played lots of golf at Royal Canberra in her younger days as an amateur, “I have played here so many times, including the Easter tournaments, Australian amateur events, I won Australian amateur foursomes around here. I think my experience around here will help in the final round.”
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rnThe winner of 14 titles around the world including the Women’s British Open back in 1997 has been playing well recently on renowned tough golf courses. She was asked if she preferred the more challenging layouts, to which she said, “Your experience comes into its own when you get courses like this because you have to think your way around, you can’t blast your way around.“
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rnLocal girl, Campbell is in the mix to win her first professional tournament at her home course. She is excited about the prospect.
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rnSix players are tied for fourth at three-under par and six shots adrift, the Victorian trio of Lindsey Wright (71), Stacey Keating (70) and Vicky Thomas (71), international players Jessica Korda (71) from America, Canadian Jessica Shepley and (70) and South Korean Haeji Kang (70).
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rnThis group of players will have to hope Lunn drops a couple of shots early and they go really low for them to have a realistic chance of holding up the trophy Sunday afternoon.
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rnFor the second straight day, there was a hole in one, this time by New South Wales’ Sunny Park, who aced the par 3 17th.
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rnFirst round co-leader Courtney Massey is currently tied 18th, while England’s Laura Davies (75) had a better day and is pleased to have made the cut. Defending champion Ashely Ona is currently tied for 46th position.
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