Rivals close in on Dam
dubai — The final day of the Ladies European Tour season is set for a tantalising finish with a number of names in with a chance to land the rebranded Omega Dubai Ladies Classic.
Anne van Dam still leads going into the last day on Saturday but it is hers to lose and anyone else’s to take as she now has a target on her back.
The Dutchwoman could have put daylight between her and the rest of the pack at the Majlis Course of the Emirates Golf Club but as the Friday afternoon sun hid behind an overcast sky, the 22-yearold was left to hold back the aggression and play it safe.
It was a day of no losses nor gains for van Dam as she still held a two-shot advantage but what it did was bunch up the field at the back and give them a whiff of the ‘Dallah’ — the Arabic Coffee Pot trophy.
It was more like she driving at 80kmph while the rest were hitting speeds of 120kmph. It was that kind of day for van Dam.
Her start was anything but that. Beginning the day at 10-under, van Dam reeled off back-to-back birdies on the second and third to go 12-under.
But she was to hit a road block as she bogeyed the par-4 eighth. With the field encountering blustery conditions in the late afternoon, van Dam didn’t try anything extravagant. And although she missed a birdie putt on the 11th, van Dam wound it up with a birdie on the par-5 18th.
Meanwhile, behind her, there were a lot of movers with American Angel Yin shooting the lowest round of the day — a 65, to jump from 25th to tied second.
The 19-year-old fired an astonishing eight birdies, four of them on the trot, and a bogey for a scintillating seven-under.
Yin was not the only one as Sweden’s Pernilla Lindberg too made eight birdies, with three on the bounce lighting up her final three holes, and could have matched the American if not for those two bogeys on the seventh and 15th.
Nonetheless, the two are tied for second.
Meanwhile, after flying under the radar over the first two days, India’s Aditi Ashok took flight with a four-under 68 for nine-under, three shots behind the leader van Dam. Aditi, the winner of the Fatima bint Mubarak Ladies Open last month, had five birdies and a bogey on the day.
Aditi was tied for fourth with England’s Charley Hull, with both making the jump from tied 14th. Hull had an eagle on the second, four birdies and a bogey as she carded a five-under.
Six of them were tied for sixth at eight-under with former winner InKyung Kim of South Korea and Dane Laura Davies, among them, shooting a six-under on the day.
Further down the field, Frenchwoman Camille Chevalier, who is in the race for the Rookie of the Year, shot one-over to be two-over and tied 60.
Spaniard Luna Sobron, third in the Rookie of the Year standings, did better with three-under to be placed tied 28th.
Van Dam and Yin reunite for the final round on Saturday and will be joined by Lindberg. Meanwhile, Aditi, Hull and Kim are in the other group.