Shanshan Feng flies five strokes clear

LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR NEWS RELEASE

FROM Bethan Cutler, LET Media Manager

DUBAI – Shanshan Feng calls Dubai her lucky place for a reason as she turned the Majlis course into her personal playground on “Pink Friday”, racing to a commanding five-shot lead going into the final round of the Omega Dubai Ladies Masters at Emirates Golf Club.

Two shots in front overnight, the world number six carded a 67 for the third day on the trot to reach 15 under for the tournament as her nearest challenger Dame Laura Davies slipped to 10^th after a third-round 77.

Feng racked up five birdies in machine-like fashion on the front nine before dropping a shot at the 12^th – her first in 48 holes. She made another bogey on the 15^th, but rebounded with a birdie on the 17^th, inexorably moving closer to winning a record third time in Dubai.

“Today, I think the front nine was really good. I had many birdie chances and a lot of them were really close. The back nine, well, I made a couple bogeys there. I think it just happens. It's normal because the day was a little bit more wind. So human beings, we're going to make mistakes. After that, I was happy that I made birdie on the 17th,” Feng said.

Feng was cruising with a 10 stroke lead after 11 holes but Thailand’s Thidapa Suwannapura, placed seventh overnight, fired a sizzling 65 – the tournament’s best score thus far – in windy conditions to jump to second on 10-under par.

The 2013 Hero Women’s Indian Open champion went to the turn in level par but picked up a stroke on the 10th before finishing with six straight birdies from the 13^th for a back nine of seven under.

“I didn't think the back nine was easy,” said Feng, adding: “I think the back nine, maybe I misjudged the wind a couple of times. And then there was one poor drive on the 12th hole.”

Suwannapura raised her game on the back nine despite struggling to walk with a painful hip and glut injury.

The 22-year-old said: “Today I just see the line and my caddie, Matt, he's my friend, and he can see the same thing as me. Like, yeah, I like it, just knock it, and it's in. I'm like, yay.  Just keep going. It's not easy out there. I'm not expecting anything. I'm just hitting balls and trying to knock it on the green. Just par is fine for me.”

France’s Jade Schaeffer returned a 70 to end the day four strokes back in third position. The two-time LET winner, who last won in Prague in 2011, has only made 12 starts on tour this year and said: “I'm very happy, because I don't play a lot of tournaments this year and I'm just training a lot with a new coach. I'm so happy now that it's working good. Just my head, I feel very well and I hope tomorrow is good, too.”

Germany’s Caroline Masson and Melissa Reid from England share fifth spot a stroke further back, but they are 10 shots from the lead.

SCOREBOARD

  par 216 (3x72)

Pos	To	Start	P L A Y E R (Click [+] for Scorecard)	Nat	Hole	Score	R1	R2	R3	R4	Total
[+]	1		1	Shanshan Feng		F	-15	67	67	67		201
[+]	2		7	Thidapa Suwannapura		F	-10	69	72	65		206
[+]	3		5	Jade Schaeffer		F	-6	69	71	70		210
[+]	4		22	Caroline Masson		F	-5	69	75	67		211
[+]	4		7	Melissa Reid		F	-5	75	66	70		211
[+]	6		22	Georgia Hall		F	-4	69	75	68		212
[+]	6		14	Isabella Ramsay		F	-4	71	72	69		212
[+]	6		14	Onnarin Sattayabanphot		F	-4	73	70	69		212
[+]	6		3	Pornanong Phatlum		F	-4	71	68	73		212
[+]	10		2	Laura Davies		F	-3	68	68	77		213
[+]	11		41	Joanna Klatten		F	-2	76	70	68		214
[+]	11		32	Margherita Rigon		F	-2	73	72	69		214
[+]	11		32	Nontaya Srisawang		F	-2	75	70	69		214
[+]	11		32	Rebecca Hudson		F	-2	73	72	69		214
[+]	11		22	Kelsey Macdonald		F	-2	73	71	70		214
[+]	11		22	Diana Luna		F	-2	69	75	70		214
[+]	11		14	Alexandra Vilatte		F	-2	73	70	71		214
[+]	11		10	Emma Cabrera-Bello		F	-2	71	71	72		214
[+]	19		48	Lydia Hall		F	-1	75	72	68		215
[+]	19		41	Whitney Hillier		F	-1	73	73	69		215
[+]	19		22	Carly Booth		F	-1	73	71	71		215
[+]	19		22	Stacey Keating		F	-1	74	70	71		215
[+]	19		10	Malene Jorgensen		F	-1	70	72	73		215
[+]	24		41	Anne Van Dam		F	E	71	75	70		216
[+]	24		22	Lucie Andre		F	E	71	73	72		216
[+]	24		14	Camilla Lennarth		F	E	70	73	73		216
[+]	24		10	Gwladys Nocera		F	E	71	71	74		216
[+]	24		10	Sarah Kemp		F	E	73	69	74		216
[+]	29		48	Emily Kristine Pedersen		F	+1	69	78	70		217
[+]	29		32	Ursula Wikstrom		F	+1	75	70	72		217
[+]	29		32	Charley Hull		F	+1	72	73	72		217
[+]	29		22	Elisa Serramia		F	+1	68	76	73		217
[+]	29		7	Liz Young		F	+1	66	75	76		217
[+]	29		5	Ariane Provot		F	+1	73	67	77		217
[+]	29		3	Caroline Hedwall		F	+1	71	68	78		217
[+]	36		59	Nicole Broch Larsen		F	+2	74	74	70		218
[+]	36		48	Maria Mcbride		F	+2	71	76	71		218
[+]	36		48	Holly Clyburn		F	+2	75	72	71		218
[+]	36		32	Beth Allen		F	+2	70	75	73		218
[+]	36		14	Carmen Alonso		F	+2	66	77	75		218
[+]	41		59	Pamela Pretswell		F	+3	72	76	71		219
[+]	41		59	Isabelle Boineau		F	+3	73	75	71		219
[+]	41		48	Marion Ricordeau		F	+3	74	73	72		219
[+]	41		48	Caroline Martens		F	+3	73	74	72		219
[+]	41		32	Amy Boulden		F	+3	71	74	74		219
[+]	41		32	Rebecca Artis		F	+3	70	75	74		219
[+]	41		14	Nanna Koerstz Madsen		F	+3	70	73	76		219
[+]	41		14	Valentine Derrey		F	+3	76	67	76		219
[+]	41		14	Louise Stahle		F	+3	69	74	76		219
[+]	50		48	Sally Watson		F	+4	73	74	73		220
[+]	50		41	Titiya Plucksataporn		F	+4	70	76	74		220
[+]	50		41	Stacy Lee Bregman		F	+4	74	72	74		220
[+]	50		32	Maha Haddioui		F	+4	69	76	75		220
[+]	50		22	Daisy Nielsen		F	+4	74	70	76		220
[+]	55		59	Sophie Giquel-Bettan		F	+5	72	76	73		221
[+]	55		59	Eleanor Givens		F	+5	76	72	73		221
[+]	55		48	Nina Holleder		F	+5	69	78	74		221
[+]	55		22	Klara Spilkova		F	+5	74	70	77		221
[+]	59		48	Victoria Lovelady		F	+6	74	73	75		222
[+]	59		41	Steffi Kirchmayr		F	+6	73	73	76		222
[+]	59		41	Celine Herbin		F	+6	70	76	76		222
[+]	62		59	Ashleigh Simon		F	+7	72	76	75		223
[+]	62		48	Sophie Sandolo		F	+7	76	71	76		223
[+]	64		59	Sophie Walker		F	+9	75	73	77		225
[+]	65		59	Connie Chen		F	+10	75	73	78		226
[+]	65		48	Chloe Leurquin		F	+10	74	73	79		226
MISSED THE CUT
-	67			Marianne Skarpnord		Cut	5	76	73			149
-	67			Noora Tamminen		Cut	5	75	74			149
-	67			Becky Brewerton		Cut	5	74	75			149
-	67			Vikki Laing		Cut	5	74	75			149
-	67			Sophia Popov		Cut	5	74	75			149
-	67			Lina Boqvist		Cut	5	73	76			149
-	67			Caroline Afonso		Cut	5	73	76			149
-	67			Lien Willems		Cut	5	72	77			149
-	67			Kusuma Meechai		Cut	5	72	77			149
-	76			Emma Westin		Cut	6	78	72			150
-	76			Ann-Kathrin Lindner		Cut	6	72	78			150
-	76			Amelia Lewis		Cut	6	70	80			150
-	79			Florentyna Parker		Cut	7	77	74			151
-	79			Holly Aitchison		Cut	7	76	75			151
-	79			Cathryn Bristow		Cut	7	74	77			151
-	79			Elisabeth Esterl		Cut	7	71	80			151
-	83			Patricia Sanz Barrio		Cut	8	80	72			152
-	83			Trish Johnson		Cut	8	77	75			152
-	83			Olivia Cowan		Cut	8	76	76			152
-	83			Emma Goddard		Cut	8	75	77			152
-	83			Maria Balikoeva		Cut	8	74	78			152
-	83			Marina Alex		Cut	8	72	80			152
-	89			Monique Smit		Cut	9	80	73			153
-	89			Christine Wolf		Cut	9	78	75			153
-	89			Alex Peters		Cut	9	76	77			153
-	89			Minea Blomqvist		Cut	9	74	79			153
-	93			Stephanie Na		Cut	10	79	75			154
-	93			Kylie Walker		Cut	10	79	75			154
-	93			Felicity Johnson		Cut	10	77	77			154
-	93			Tonje Daffinrud		Cut	10	75	79			154
-	93			Hannah Ralph		Cut	10	75	79			154
-	98			Fabienne In-Albon		Cut	11	78	77			155
-	98			Bonita Bredenhann		Cut	11	76	79			155
-	98			Elina Nummenpaa		Cut	11	72	83			155
-	101			Csilla Lajtai-Rozsa		Cut	12	78	78			156
-	101			Paige Spiranac		Cut	12	77	79			156
-	101			Nicole Garcia		Cut	12	76	80			156
-	101			Bree Arthur		Cut	12	75	81			156
-	105			Carin Koch		Cut	14	78	80			158
-	105			Linda Henriksson		Cut	14	75	83			158
-	107			Hannah Burke		Cut	15	80	79			159
	RETD			Leigh Whittaker