LANCASHIRE-BOUND KIWI GIRLS DISPUTE ASSIE CHAMPIONSHIP

Teenagers Cecilia Cho and Lydia Ko - the world ranked Nos 2-3 amateurs who will make the New Zealand team one of the favourites for the Astor Trophy at Fairhaven Golf Club, Lancashire in June - are disputing the lead with one round to go in the Australian women's amateur stroke-play championship at Melbourne.
Lydia Ko, pictured, fired two birdies in her final six holes to retain the lead.
The 13-year-old from North Harbour shot a two-under par 71 to move to five-under after three rounds at Huntingdale Golf Club.
She will take a two-shot lead into the final round from compatriot Cecilia Cho and Yi-Chen Liu from Chinese Taipei. The pair both shot tournament-low rounds of four-under 69 to close to three-under par.

They are two shots clear of Western Australian Minjee Lee, who dropped to one-under after one-over 74.

The quartet are the only players under par, with five shots back to Korea's Su Hyun Oh and Australians Ashley Ona and Cathleen Santosa on four-over par.

"I couldn't hit many greens on the front nine and I was struggling a bit - it was pretty hard to get up and down," Ko said.

"I think overall the round was good though."

Ko said she would focus on enjoying the final round  as she takes on her teammate and friend Cho.

"It will be challenging. I need to have fun out there and relax and play the best that I can. I know Cecilia and Yi-Chien are good players and can shoot good scores out there so I just need to keep my score going."

The top 32 players will qualify after four rounds to contest the matchplay phase.
Leading scores after the third round at the Australian women's amateur strokeplay golf championship at Huntingdale, Melbourne:
Par 219 (3x73)
214 Lydia Ko (NZ) 70 73 71
216 Cecilia Cho (NZ) 70 77 69, Yi-Chen Liu (Taipei) 72 75 69
218 Minjee Lee (Australia) 77 67 74

LATEST WORLD WOMEN'S AMATEUR GOLF RANKINGS

1 Mitsuki Katahira (Japan)
2 Cecilia Cho (New Zealand)
3 Lydia Ko (New Zealand)
4 Leona Maguire (Ireland) (+1 from last week).
Selected others:
13 Lisa Maguire (Ireland) (-1).
24 Stephanie Meadow (Ireland) (+5).
30 Pamela Pretswell (Scotland) (+2).
34 Charley Hull (England) (no change).
44 Hayley Davis (England) (-1).
46 Kelsey MacDonald (Scotland) (-1).

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