Pace, Simon hold course in Scotland

LPGA Tour winner Lee-Anne Pace rallied with her signature tenacity to join fellow South African Ashleigh Simon in Saturday’s third round of the Ricoh British Women’s Open in Scotland.

Pace failed to take advantage of the sunny conditions on day one and carded a disappointing 75, but when the weather turned nasty at the Trump Turnberry Resort on Friday, the nine-time Ladies European Tour champion got tough.

Pace produced a hard-fought for one-under-par 73 to move to four over, while Simon finished a further stroke adrift after a five over 77.

Pace negated a double bogey at the par-four first of the Ailsa Course with birdies at three and seven and reduced the damage of four bogeys with a hat-trick of birdies to tie for 49th.

“I fought very hard, but that was a very long and challenging,” said the Pearl Valley golfer.

“The wind blew hard, it was very cold and we had the odd shower, as well. I knew it was going to be a tough day for everyone and thought if I could shoot around even par, I would give myself a chance at making the weekend.

“You need a bit of luck at majors and I had some today, as the conditions got a little worse for the afternoon players. I enjoy links courses, so I’m looking forward to the weekend. Hopefully I can continue to move up the leaderboard.”

Simon had six bogeys and did well to get three strokes back with birdies at three, seven and 10, but the Wanna Be A Champion player couldn’t recover from a double bogey at the par-four 18th.

Simon’s stable-mate Nicole Garcia and fellow South African Paula Reto both missed the cut, set at 149, in their Ricoh British Women’s Open debut.

Garcia carded rounds of 76 and 78, while Reto, who posted rounds of 79 and 82, really battled to come to terms with the weather and the unfamiliar links layout.

Meanwhile Norway’s Suzann Pettersen took pole position at seven under with a three-under-par 69.

The 34-year-old Norwegian braved the driving wind to notch four birdies against a lone bogey.

“They were very tough conditions; the ball was going nowhere,” said Pettersen. “Par was a very good score. It’s easy to be picky, but overall it was a very solid round of golf. When you make the turn, you hit the wall on 12 with that gale force wind. “I think three under is a very good score.”

Pettersen leads by two from world number two Lydia Ko from New Zealand, LPGA champion Teresa Lu from Chinese Taipei, Major champion So Yeon Ryu and fellow Korean Jin Young Ko.

The two-time Major winner has put herself in a good position to take revenge after falling one stroke short of a play-off last year and tied for fourth in 2013.

SECOND ROUND SCORES (top 20)
137 Suzann Pettersen NOR 68 69
139 So Yeon Ryu KOR 67 72, Jin Young Ko KOR 68 71, Teresa Lu TPE 68 71, Lydia Ko NZL 66 73
140 Mika Miyazato JPN 68 72
141 Minjee Lee AUS 69 72, Anna Nordqvist SWE 69 72
142 Inbee Park KOR 69 73
143 Melissa Reid ENG 73 70, Cristie Kerr USA 66 77, Christina Kim USA 71 72, Nicole Broch Larsen DEN 69 74, Hyo-Joo Kim KOR 65 78
144 Yani Tseng TPE 72 72, Misuzu Narita JPN 69 75, Julieta Granada PAR 70 74, Sun Young Yoo KOR 71 73, Alison Walshe USA 70 74
145 Shanshan Feng CHN 71 74, Amy Boulden WAL 71 74, Marianne Skarpnord NOR 71 74, Mi Hyang Lee KOR 70 75, Jenny Shin KOR 71 74, Maria Mcbride SWE 79 66, Jung Min Lee KOR 70 75, Gwladys Nocera FRA 70 75, Amy Yang KOR 69 76, Florentyna Parker ENG 68 77, Jennifer Song USA 71 74, Stacy Lewis USA 70 75
148 Lee-Anne Pace RSA 75 73
149 Ashleigh Simon RSA 72 77
Missed Cut
154 Nicole Garcia RSA 76 78
161 Paula Reto RSA 79 82

PHOTO – Lee-Anne Pace; credit Gallo Images