LIZ REPLACES RACHEL IN

SALLY LEAD AS MICHELE

(69) TAKES CLOSER ORDER

Aberdeenshire champion Michele Thomson shot a three-under-par 69 - the lowest score of the third round - to move into joint fourth place with one round to go in the South Atlantic Ladies Amateur Championship (known as the "Sally" for short) at Oceanside Country Club, Ormond Beach, Florida today.
The 19-year-old from Ellon, a member of the Ladies Golf Union Elite Squad - the short leet for the Great Britain & Ireland team for the Curtis Cup match over the Old Course, St Andrews at the end of May - had a brilliant bogey-free outward half of 33, studded with birdies at the ffirst, second and 16th.
She bogeyed the 11th but bounced back with birdies at the 12th and 13th before dropping a shot at the 18th for level par 36 home.
Thomson is on two-over-par 218 for 54 holes.
Another LGU Elite Squad player, 25-year-old Liz Bennett, picture above by Cal Carson Golf Agency, the English women's amateur stroke-play champion from Southampton, replaced colleague Rachel Jennings (Izaak Walton) at the head of the field.
Teenager Jennings slumped over the inward nine holes for a 78 and a share of seventh place on 219 while Bennett, who plays out of (Brokenhurst Manor) returned a 70 for a two-shot lead on one-under-par 215.
Bennett, who has ambitions to play on the LPGA Tour, birdied the second, fourth, 12th and 13th and had bogeys at the seventh and eighth in halves of 36 and 34.
Jennings came out of an erratic first nine holes with a level par 36 although she had birdied the third, sixth and seventh and had a double bogey at the short fourth and a bogey at the short ninth.

Sadly, the inward half would cost Rachel six-over-par 42. She bogeyed the 11th, took a triple bogey 6 at the short 14th - the Oceanside short holes were a nightmare for her - and dropped shots at the 16th and 17th.

But the former English girls champion has done well to be only four shots off the lead going into the final round and could yet make the final 1-2-3.

LEADING THIRD-ROUND TOTALS
Par 216 (3 x 72)
Players from US unless stated
215 L Bennett (Brokenhurst Manor) 73 72 70.
217 J Yadloczky 69 76 72, M Bolger 76 69 72.
218 M Thomson (McDonald Ellon) 73 76 69, A Bodemann 71 73 74, K Wong 72 74 72.
219 V Grimes 71 73 75, L Duncan 71 76 72, T Chudy 71 74 74, R Jennings (Izaak Walton) 71 70 78.
220 R Carpenter 72 74 74, S Kim 74 786 70.
221 K Trotter 78 70 73.
222 K McLaughlin 74 76 72.
223 N Edwards (Ganton) 76 73 74.
224 T Allen 76 74 74.
224 C Schepperle 72 80 73, S Hassan (Vale of Glamorgan) 73 78 74.
Other scores included:
234 K Smith (Waterlooville) 77 81 76, R Connor (Manchester) 73 76 85.
238 S Carty (The Island, Dublin) 83 78 77.
239 S Farrar (Stirling Univ) 77 82 80.
240 L Murray (Robert Gordon Univ) 84 79 77.
241 R Cassidy (Stirling Univ) 82 76 83.
244 H Calvert (Stirling Univ) 82 80 82.
278 S Crolla (Heriot Watt Univ) 97 94 87.