(Clearwater Golf Club, Christchurch)
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&aposLet the battle resume&apos was the catch-cry yesterday as the three in-form players on the ALPG Tour sit one, two and three heading into the final round of the inaugural New Zealand Women&aposs Open. Sarah Oh, Katherine Hull and Gwladys Nocera were in the same position last Sunday heading into the final round of the LG Bing Lee NSW Women&aposs Open.
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rnOh (New South Wales), Katherine Hull (Queensland), and Gwladys Nocera (France) went head-to-head in the final round of the New South Wales Open last Sunday with Oh&aposs superior touch on the greens taking her to a three-shot victory.
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rnOh and Hull have shown superb putting skills at Clearwater in the first two rounds of the New Zealand event and that, coupled with their consistency and accuracy from tee to green, has set up a replay of a week ago.
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rnOh had a bogey-free five-under par 67 to finish the 36 holes on 135, nine-under par, with Hull three shots back on six-under 138 after bogeys at 17 and 18 resulted in her carding a one-over 73 and losing valuable ground. Nocera had four birdies in her 68 and no bogeys. A further stroke back was young Korean professional Bobea Park, who had six birdies in her 67, the equal best round of the day, and Australian Sarah Kemp, who had four birdies along with an eagle at the par-5 fifth.
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rnThe leading New Zealander and tied for sixth on two-under par is outstanding 14-year-old Aucklander, Cecilia Cho, who backed an opening 69 with a one-over 73. She was disappointed at dropping three shots in the last five holes including a double-bogey at the last.
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rnAlthough three shots behind Oh, Hull has several factors on her side. She is the 26th world-ranked player, has been a professional for seven years, and won more than US$1million in season earnings on the United States LPGA Tour last year.
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rnOh, 20, whose world ranking improved more than 100 places to 339th after her New South Wales Open triumph, is in her third year as a professional and has yet to reach $A50,000 in earnings. However, she did win the Australian Ladies Professional Golf Tour&aposs Rookie of the Year award last year after finishing third on the order of merit and has shown plenty of self-belief in the early stages of a promising career.
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rnOh had five birdies in round 2 and has dropped just one shot in 36 holes. "I hit the ball really well, better than yesterday but didn&apost drop so many (putts),&apos&apos Oh said. "But I made some good recoveries on 13 and 15 for pars so that made up for it. It was a steady round and could have been better had more putts dropped but it is hard to hole every one.&apos&apos
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rnOh putted confidently, however, and the longest of her five birdie putts was from no more than 4m. "I pick a spot, step up and hit it.&apos&apos She said she was "looking forward" to the rematch with Hull tomorrow. "She is a lovely girl and I love playing golf with her – we are just going to have a great day out there.&apos&apos
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rnHull&aposs putter was not so hot as yesterday when she took only 24 putts and she mixed five bogeys with four birdies. She attributed her lapses to "bad mental errors&apos&apos and being "punished" for not being precise with her chipping. Afterwards she said, "Sarah&aposs playing very well right now and has the confidence going. She
rnwill be difficult to beat, I&aposm sure she&aposll have another good round tomorrow."
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rn"My game plan won&apost change, I&aposll probably not pay all that much attention to what she&aposs doing – I&aposll go out and play the best golf I can play, try and hit it as close as I can and make my birdies.&apos&apos