Aberdeen's Gemma Dryburgh in joint 13th place

Flo Parker maintains two-shot lead in Morocco

LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR NEWS RELEASE
By BETHAN CUTLER, LET Media Manager

Rabat, Morocco: Florentyna Parker maintained her two-shot overnight lead in the Lalla Meryem Cup after a third-round 72 in breezy conditions on the Blue Course at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam in Rabat, Morocco today.

At six under par, the 26-year-old Englishwoman remains two strokes ahead of compatriot Liz Young, who was joined by Ladies European Tour rookie professional Nuria Iturrios from Spain on four under par heading into the final round.

It was a dogged and determined performance from Parker, whose short game kept her level through six holes. Her patience finally paid off when she birdied the seventh to move three shots ahead. 
 Out in 35, she bogeyed the 11^th but recovered with a birdie on 13 before dropping another shot on 17 to come back in 37.

“I am happy with my score but the first nine were so up and down it was incredible: I was holing putts from everywhere,” said Parker, the winner of the 2010 ABN AMRO Ladies Open and 2014 Italian Open.  
“The back nine calmed down playingwise but I didn’t score as well. I made two bogeys and a birdie on 13. To be honest there aren’t many scoreboards out there but obviously playing with the other two, you can tell how people are scoring. 
"Liz and I shot level par and I think it was a good score because it was really windy and sometimes hard to tell where it was coming from.”

Young went out in 36 after a birdie on the second and bogey on the fifth and it was a similar story on the back nine as she birdied 13 and dropped a shot on 17. 

The 33-year-old eighth season LET player from Hampshire, who has twice finished in fourth place, in Scotland and Slovakia, is targeting her first podium finish on Sunday, although at four months pregnant, she was so exhausted after her second round that she fell asleep on the journey back to her hotel.

She said: “I’m feeling even more tired but I was pleased with my level par round today. I actually hit the ball well. It was pretty uneventful with two birdies and two bogeys and I just didn’t hole as many putts as I had done on the previous rounds.

“Now I’ve finished early I’ll do exactly what I did yesterday: go back and rest and tee it up tomorrow and hopefully have another good round.”

She shares second with Iturrios, who is playing in only her second LET event having tied for 24^th in New Zealand in February.  The 20-year-old Majorca is excited to be back in Morocco, where she finished fourth at Lalla Aicha Tour School in December. Iturrios described the experience as ‘strange’ and added: “I don’t have any expectations for this week, I just want to play my golf and enjoy it.”

Frenchwoman Lucie Andre and Finland’s Noora Tamminen share fourth on three under par while a further three players are a stroke further back and only four from the lead heading into the final round. They are 17-year-old rookie Angel Yin from the United States, Finland’s Krista Bakker and Isabelle Boineau from France, all of whom are yet to win on the Ladies European Tour.

SCOTSWATCH (by Colin Farquharson). Aberdeen's Gemma Dryburgh is T13 on 217 after three very steady rounds of 73, 72 and 72.
The Beaconsfield player is two ahead of the next best Scot, Nairn's Kelsey MacDonald who is T21 on 219 with rounds of 71, 75 and 73.
The only other Scot to survive the halfway cut, Pamela Pretswell from Hamilton, had a bad day with a 78, which was a bit like her opening round of 77 and nowhere near as good as hersecond round of 70.
Pretswell is T58 on 225.

  SCOREBOARD

1		1	Florentyna PARKER		F	-6	67	71	72	-	210
[+]	T2		4	Nuria ITURRIOS		F	-4	70	72	70	-	212
[+]	T2		2	Liz YOUNG		F	-4	68	72	72	-	212
[+]	T4		8	Lucie ANDRE		F	-3	70	73	70	-	213
[+]	T4		4	Noora TAMMINEN		F	-3	71	71	71	-	213
[+]	T6		15	Angel YIN		F	-2	70	75	69	-	214
[+]	T6		4	Krista BAKKER		F	-2	69	73	72	-	214
[+]	T6		2	Isabelle BOINEAU		F	-2	70	70	74	-	214
[+]	T9		15	Isi GABSA		F	-1	73	72	70	-	215
[+]	T9		8	Maria PARRA (AM)		F	-1	72	71	72	-	215
[+]	T11		23	Emily Kristine PEDERSEN		F	E	71	75	70	-	216
[+]	T11		15	Nanna Koerstz MADSEN		F	E	73	72	71	-	216
[+]	T13		15	Linda WESSBERG		F	+1	74	71	72	-	217
[+]	T13		48	Georgia HALL		F*	+1	75	73	69	-	217
[+]	T13		15	Gemma DRYBURGH		F	+1	73	72	72	-	217
[+]	T13		8	Albane VALENZUELA (AM)		F	+1	70	73	74	-	217
[+]	T13		4	Gwladys NOCERA		F	+1	73	69	75	-	217
[+]	T18		23	Trish JOHNSON		F	+2	73	73	72	-	218
[+]	T18		13	Marianne SKARPNORD		F	+2	68	76	74	-	218
[+]	T18		8	Justine DREHER		F	+2	70	73	75	-	218
[+]	T21		23	Maha HADDIOUI		F	+3	72	74	73	-	219
[+]	T21		23	Kelsey MACDONALD		F	+3	71	75	73	-	219
[+]	T21		23	Aditi ASHOK		F	+3	72	74	73	-	219
[+]	T21		48	Melissa REID		F*	+3	75	73	71	-	219
[+]	T21		15	Kanphanitnan MUANGKHUMSAKUL		F	+3	72	73	74	-	219
[+]	T21		15	Nicole BROCH LARSEN		F	+3	73	72	74	-	219
[+]	T21		8	Chloe LEURQUIN		F	+3	72	71	76	-	219
[+]	T28		33	Holly CLYBURN		F*	+4	74	73	73	-	220
[+]	T28		23	Ana MENENDEZ		F	+4	70	76	74	-	220
[+]	T28		48	Stacey KEATING		F*	+4	74	74	72	-	220
[+]	T28		15	Lynn CARLSSON		F	+4	73	72	75	-	220
[+]	T28		48	Mireia PRAT		F*	+4	75	73	72	-	220
[+]	T28		48	Marta SANZ BARRIO		F*	+4	75	73	72	-	220
[+]	T34		33	Valentine DERREY		F*	+5	76	71	74	-	221
[+]	T34		33	Caroline MARTENS		F*	+5	75	72	74	-	221
[+]	T34		33	Lina BOQVIST		F*	+5	76	71	74	-	221
[+]	T34		23	Olivia COWAN		F	+5	72	74	75	-	221
[+]	T34		48	Mathilda CAPPELIEZ (AM)		F*	+5	74	74	73	-	221
[+]	T34		57	Sophie GIQUEL-BETTAN		F*	+5	76	73	72	-	221
[+]	T40		33	Daisy NIELSEN		F	+6	76	71	75	-	222
[+]	T40		33	Oona VARTIAINEN		F*	+6	68	79	75	-	222
[+]	T40		33	Victoria LOVELADY		F*	+6	72	75	75	-	222
[+]	T40		62	Beth ALLEN		F*	+6	74	76	72	-	222
[+]	T40		62	Linda HENRIKSSON		F*	+6	76	74	72	-	222
[+]	T40		62	Jessica BRADLEY		F*	+6	77	73	72	-	222
[+]	T46		33	Johanna GUSTAVSSON		F	+7	74	73	76	-	223
[+]	T46		23	Annabel DIMMOCK		F	+7	73	73	77	-	223
[+]	T46		33	Caroline AFONSO		F*	+7	73	74	76	-	223
[+]	T46		23	Tonje DAFFINRUD		F	+7	72	74	77	-	223
[+]	T46		33	Xiang SUI (AM)		F*	+7	73	74	76	-	223
[+]	T46		13	Hannah BURKE		F	+7	72	72	79	-	223
[+]	T46		57	Camilla LENNARTH		F*	+7	75	74	74	-	223
[+]	T46		57	Luna SOBRON (AM)		F*	+7	74	75	74	-	223
[+]	T54		33	Leigh WHITTAKER		F*	+8	76	71	77	-	224
[+]	T54		33	Stefania CROCE		F*	+8	73	74	77	-	224
[+]	T54		48	Stacy Lee BREGMAN		F*	+8	74	74	76	-	224
[+]	T54		62	Rosie DAVIES		F*	+8	78	72	74	-	224
[+]	T58		33	Elia FOLCH		F	+9	72	75	78	-	225
[+]	T58		33	Louise STAHLE		F*	+9	77	70	78	-	225
[+]	T58		33	Pamela PRETSWELL		F	+9	77	70	78	-	225
[+]	T58		48	Malene JORGENSEN		F*	+9	77	71	77	-	225
[+]	T58		57	Miriam NAGL		F*	+9	73	76	76	-	225
[+]	T58		62	Rebecca ARTIS		F*	+9	74	76	75	-	225
[+]	T58		62	Diana LUNA		F*	+9	75	75	75	-	225
[+]	T65		48	Ariane PROVOT		F*	+10	78	70	78	-	226
[+]	T65		62	Ursula WIKSTROM		F*	+10	78	72	76	-	226
[+]	67		62	Sophie WALKER		F*	+11	77	73	77	-	227
[+]	68		57	Nicole GARCIA		F*	+12	74	75	79	-	228
[+]	T69		62	Laura JANSONE		F*	+13	79	71	79	-	229
[+]	T69		62	Whitney HILLIER		F*	+13	76	74	79	-	229
[+]	71		23	Natalie WILLE		F	+14	74	72	84	-	230
The Cut