The Hindu : Sport / Golf : Nocera stays in the lead

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Saturday, Dec 08, 2007
ePaper

Sport

Sport - Golf

Nocera stays in the lead

Special Correspondent

BANGALORE: France’s Virginie Lagoutte-Clement came up with the day’s best card of a six under 66, but then it was just not enough to seriously test her compatriot and leader Gwladys Nocera, who came up with a par score on Friday to tally six under 210 over three rounds, in the Ladies Masters European Tour event at the Eagleton Resort here. Lagoutte-Clement, overnight three over 147, covered a lot of ground to finish at three under after the third day.

Laura Davies, the pre-event favourite, too made a fine recovery but still stayed two over after 54 holes. Davies, known for her long drives and fine approach shots, eagled the sixth. That set the trend for the British veteran, who carded five under for the day, but was two-over over three rounds.

Lagoutte-Clement, who had turned pro four years ago, finished runner-up at the Netherlands and third in Austria before arriving here and, after two days of fighting the odds, finally came into her own. “Tomorrow is another day and anything is possible” she said.

She had birdies in the fourth, seventh, ninth, 10th, 14th, 17th and 18th holes, after a bogey on the very first.

In fact, most of the golfers, including Nocera dropped a stroke on the very first hole.

Nocera did not have too satisfying a day. “I did not play well. The drives and the approaches were both not to my liking,” she said.

Leading scores after 54 holes: 210-Gwladys Nocera (Fra; 69, 69, 72); 213-Virginie Lagoutte-Clement (Fra; 72, 75, 66); 215-Martina Eberl (Ger; 76, 71, 68), Lisa Hall (Eng; 72, 73, 70), Marta Prieto (Esp; 73, 70, 72), Trish Johnson (Eng; 73, 70, 72); 216-Karen-Margrethe Juul (Den; 73, 73, 70), Lotta Wahlin (Swe; 69, 75, 72); 217-Maria Beautell (Esp; 77, 70, 70), Becky Brewerton (Wal; 76, 70, 71), Sophie Walker (Eng; 70, 75, 72), Margherita Rigon (Ita; 73, 72, 72), Eva Steinberger (Aut; 74,70,73), Titiya Plucksataporn (Tha; 72, 71, 74).

Indians scores: 223-Tania Wadhwa (74, 74, 75); 224-Smriti Mehra (82, 71, 71)); 228-Meghna Bal (78, 78, 72); 239-Sharmila Nicollet (82, 78, 79): 245-Sanniya Sharma (78, 82, 85); 249-Shalini Malik (86, 80, 83); 253-Nonita Qureshi (82, 84, 87); 255-Nitika Jadeja (86, 83, 86).

Printer friendly page
Send this article to Friends by E-Mail

Sport