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Cheyenne Woods has a low number on her mind as she looks to make a final round surge at the Oates VicOpen championship at 13th Beach.
The 27-year-old American carded a blemish-free four-under 69 on the Beach course on Saturday morning to move to two-under for the tournament ahead of Sunday’s tournament deciding round.
Woods now has leader Minjee Lee and contenders Jenny Haglund, Caroline Hedwall, Marianne Skarpnord and Tze-Han Lin in her sights.
“I would love to get back out tomorrow and shoot another 69, 68,” Woods said.
“I think there is (a low number out there). I didn’t even birdie the birdieable par-five and the driveable par-four. I did leave maybe two shots out there.
“My goal today was to get inside the top 10. I think at -2 I should be in decent position … I don’t know what Minjee is going to do, she’s a great player.
“Every day is so different, you don’t know what the wind is going to do either. You really just have to play it day-by-day.
“(I’ll) just go out there enjoy it and have fun and hopefully make a lot of putts. We’ve got it (a low score) in us so we will go in and give it all we have got.”
Woods’ third round performance showed incredible mental resilience, bouncing back from a horror seven-over second round on the Beach course on Friday.
The niece of champion golfer Tiger was seven-over through nine, before stemming the tide at the turn.
Friday was also the first time she had played the Beach course with only a quick walk on Thursday night being able to provide any intelligence on what she was about to face.
“Through nine holes, regardless of the seven-over, I knew I had to be patient. With having not ever played the golf course and with it being the more difficult golf course I tried to stay patient and not panic,” Woods said.
“Through nine holes I took one of my shirts off, I tied my hair up and I felt like ‘okay, it’s a new nine let’s just start over’.
“I managed to grind it out a little bit and finish even par on the back.“
Saturday was much improved. A birdie on the par-five fifth would have been a big confidence boost, while birdies on 17 and 18 capped off her round perfectly.
“It was a much better day today. I hit the ball well,” she said.
“I learned a lot from yesterday’s round just in terms of getting to know the golf course and getting a better feel for it. So it felt really good out there.
“That front nine yesterday, I was kind of all over the place and not comfortable with my lines, the golf course in general. You know, it showed in my seven over through nine holes.
“Today I felt much more comfortable and prepared. It made a huge difference.”
Woods’ four-under was the best round to come from the early tee times, while Engand’s Florentyna Parker and Thailand’s Prima Thammaraks signed off on three-under rounds.
Australian Sarah Kemp was three-under through two, but back-to-back bogeys on holes three and four stopped any positive momentum she was building.
A birdie on the par-five 18th saw her finish at two-under for the day and one-under for the tournament.