England’s Cara Gainer powered to the top of the Amundi Czech Ladies Challenge leaderboard with a bogey-free round of 66 (-6), adding to her opening 71 (-1) to hold a two-shot lead over Tiia Koivisto, heading into tomorrow’s final round.
In trickier conditions at Prague City Golf Club with gusts of up to 25mph, the English star started steadily with pars on the first five holes before making birdies at Nos. 6 and 7 to ignite her challenge.
Further gains at Nos. 10,12 and 13 took her to the top of the summit before a textbook birdie at the par three 18th, topped off a flawless day of golf.
“I struck a perfect 8-iron to six inches and it almost went in; we were nearly celebrating even more.”
Competing in only her second LETAS event, having turned professional earlier this year after Q-School, Gainer has been keeping sharp in the Rose Ladies Series during the break, finishing as runner-up on two occasions.
Hailing from Maidenhead and with plenty of experience playing on links golf courses in England, the 25-year-old said, “The golf course is set up similar to a links, a bit softer but it’s favouring longer hitters. I think the pins were a little easier today, but the wind made it tricky in places. I am used to flighting the ball a little bit lower and knowing my yardages with lower flighted clubs helped a lot, so I found that quite easy. I’m looking forward to tomorrow.”
Trailing by two shots in sole second place at five-under-par is Finland’s Tiia Koivisto, who is hoping to follow in the footsteps of her compatriot Sanna Nuutinen who captured the last LETAS event. She will feature in the last group off tomorrow at 10.12am alongside Scotland’s Rachael Taylor, who sits in third place at four-under-par.
Overnight leader Pia Babnik stumbled to a round of 74 to occupy fourth place alongside Czech national Lucie Hinnerova and Scotland’s Gabrielle Macdonald.
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