Thidapa jumps into contention
Thai star shoots tournament-best 65 as Feng takes lead after third round at Dubai Ladies event
>> DUBAI: Thailand’s Thidapa Suwannapura hit six birdies in a row for a seven-under-par 65 to move up to second in the third round of the Dubai Ladies Masters yesterday.
Thidapa’s 206 total was five shots behind China’s Feng Shanshan who hit a 67 for 201 at Emirates Golf Club in the Ladies European Tour’s season finale.
Feng, who calls Dubai her lucky place, turned the Majlis course into her personal playground on “Pink Friday”.
Two shots in front overnight, the world No.6 carded a 67 for the third day on the trot as her nearest challenger Dame Laura Davies slipped to 10th after a third-round 77.
Feng racked up five birdies in machine-like fashion on the front nine before dropping a shot at the 12th — her first in 48 holes.
She made another bogey on the 15th, but rebounded with a birdie on the 17th to move closer to winning a record third title in Dubai.
“Today, I think the front nine was really good. I had many birdie chances and a lot of them were really close,’’ said the Chinese. “The back nine, well, I made a couple bogeys there. We are human beings, we’re going to make mistakes. I was happy that I made birdie on the 17th.”
Feng was cruising with a 10-stroke lead after 11 holes but Thidapa, placed seventh overnight, fired a sizzling 65 — the tournament’s best score so far — in windy conditions to jump to second on 10 under.
The 2013 Hero Women’s Indian Open champion went to the turn in even par but picked up a stroke on the 10th before finishing with six straight birdies from the 13th for a back nine of seven under.
Thidapa raised her game on the back round despite struggling to walk with a painful hip and glut injury.
The 22-year-old said: “Today, I saw the line and my caddie Matt, who is my friend, saw the same thing. It’s like, yeah, just knock it, and it’s in. It’s not easy out there. I was not expecting anything. I was just hitting balls and trying to knock it on the green.”
France’s Jade Schaeffer returned a 70 to end the day four strokes back in third position.