SUE DYE SURGES INTO FIVE-STROKE LEAD IN ENGLISH SENIORS' STROKE-PLAY

Cheshire’s Sue Dye scored her second sub-par round today to power into a five-shot lead at the English senior women’s stroke play championship at Shanklin and Sandown on the Isle of Wight. Sue, from Delamere Forest in Cheshire (image © Leaderboard Photography), is two-under par after 36 holes, having returned two scores of 71. Her closest rival, with one round to play, is Katherine Russell of Sussex, who is three-over par for the event after rounds of 72 75 – and who came from behind to win the British senior championship last year. They are four shots clear of the rest of the field, with a group of four players sharing third place: Carol Wild of Nottinghamshire, overnight leader Debbie Richards and her Surrey colleague Felicity Christine, together with Amanda Mayne of Somerset. After today’s play the field was cut to the leading 36 players and ties, with a total of 38 competitors going forward to contest tomorrow’s final round. Sue Dye, who won this title in 2007, set an impressive pace today on the attractive and challenging course.  “I’m really pleased – I’m engaging my brain!” she said. “My game is good, but it doesn’t matter how good your game is unless you have your right head on. “I did it a different way today. Yesterday I had six birdies, but I three-putted three times. Today I didn’t three-putt at all.” She also had the distinction of a rare eagle, with a three on the par five third which she reduced the hole to a drive, a seven-wood and a 3ft putt. Sue also had two birdies during her round, on the 1st and 15th and reckons she let another couple slip away.  “I left two in the jaws,” she said. Her only dropped shots were on the 6th, 7th and 10th – during a wobbly spell. “I was losing my swing a bit, but I sorted myself out,” said Sue. Katherine Russell is playing only her second season of senior golf and made a dream start last year when she won the British title at her first attempt. She added it to three 2012 Sussex titles: the ladies’, the seniors and the foursomes championships. She was trailing by four shots going into the final round of the British, so has experience of chasing the leader. “I shall just try and stay steady and consistent and see what happens,” said Katherine, who is ladies’ captain at Royal Ashdown Forest. The upward movers on the leaderboard included Carol Wild of Notts’ Ladies who went from eighth to a share of third place, with scores of 75, 76. “I bogeyed the first and thought ‘oh well’ but then had three birdies.”  They included an impressive two on the short fifth where she holed a long downhill putt from the upper level of the green. One of the best scores of the day was a 74 from Gillian Mellor of Prestbury in Cheshire, which moved her from 13th to a share of seventh place. She birdied the par four 4th, where she almost drove the green, and finished by holing a two-footer for another birdie on 18. She added it to an opening 78 and she remarked: “I hit the ball better yesterday but I had four double bogeys. Today I was just steady and it was very nice to put it all together.” Full details and scores: www.englandgolf.org/championships Lyndsey Hewison Press Officer England Golf pr@englandgolf.org 07825 752 193

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