Sweden’s Moa Svedenskiold leads the PGA Championship by one stroke heading into the final day at Elisefarm Golf Club on the LET Access Series (LETAS).
At three-under overall, Svedenskiold edged ahead five players — Finland’s Tiia Koivisto (71), Switzerland’s Natalie Armbruester (70), Italy’s Emma Lundgren (70), Denmark’s Cecilie Leth-Nissen (71) and Sweden’s Elsa Svensson (75).
There are only seven players under-par heading into Friday’s final round, with Canada’s Ashley Chow (69) another shot behind at one-under.
Coming into her home tournament on the back of her first professional title at last week’s Ladies German Challenge, Svedenskiold, 22, has carried on her red-hot form by following up a first-round 71 with a two-under 70 on Thursday.
“It was a rough, rough start with hard approach shots,” Svedenskiold said. “The greens are really firm out here, and it’s hard to judge where to land and where not to land.
“Even if you have a short par five, these greens are tougher than you think. With this wind and the firmness of the greens, it’s really tough to find the right angle to find the good approach shots.”
After two bogeys on the front nine, Svedenskiold steeled herself to close with four birdies on holes 10, 14, 16 and 18.
“They did put some tough pins out there, but I just told myself that it’s a new nine holes on the back nine and managed to shoot four under, which really boost my confidence for tomorrow.
“Yesterday, I felt I could shoot seven, eight under but I did some bogeys and double bogeys. I feel like if I stay patient, I have a good chance to shoot under par.”
Playing in the final group for the second straight tournament, Svedenskiold, who won last week’s Ladies German Challenge from two shots back, can count on home support.
“My sister and her dog were here watching, Svedenskiold said. “She really enjoyed watching me because I’ve been away for a long time since I’ve been in college. And then my grandma and her friend came out and watched us, which was really special.
“I’m feeling good, trying to rest up for tomorrow, maybe work some stuff on the range and putting and hopefully have a good time and good round tomorrow.”
Overnight leader Svensson started hot by holing a birdie putt from the fringe on the opening hole, before draining another long putt for par on the par-3 4th after finding the greenside bunker.
But she bogeyed six of the final 14 holes to drop into a share for second place.
“It was definitely a tough round,” Svensson said. “I fought the whole way. It’s hard to get the ball to stop on these greens that are so firm. But I’m happy with my fight today.
“I love this (being in contention). This is why we play golf. So hopefully I can keep it going tomorrow and have a good day.”
On a day where players were befuddled with tough pin locations and firm greens, France’s 16-year-old amateur Kong broke the course record by one stroke with a stunning round of seven-under 65.
“I’m just happy to play tomorrow,” Kong, who shot a first-round 79, said. “I had a really bad run yesterday, and today I was just like, yeah, just play your game, try to not miss the cut this time.
“I started pretty solid and had two eagles on par fives, so yeah, it was a really nice round.”
She was three-under through 13 holes before making a late charge beginning from the par-5 14th hole, where her second shot hit the flag and came to a stop three feet from the hole.
Kong then traded a birdie on hole 16 for a bogey the next hole, before draining a 15-foot putt for another eagle on the par-5 18th
“I almost made albatross on the 14th,” she said. “I hit like two great drives and had six-iron in on the 14 and four-iron in on the last hole, I putted like seven metres probably.
“They were pretty long putts, but I’m happy because yesterday my putting was really bad.”
Kong skipped the previous two events in Czechia and Germany as she is in the process of completing her exams.
She added: “I’m playing this tournament between my exams. I passed the first half just after Montauban, and I’m passing the other half two days after I go back to France.
“So yeah, really stressful trying to combine golf and studies at the same time.”
Kong will start tomorrow’s final round at even-par in tied-eighth, alongside Scotland’s Lorna Mcclymont (70) and Denmark’s Cecilie Nielsen (73).
Sixty players will return on Friday to compete for the trophy with the cut line set at eight-over-par.
The final round begins at 7.30am (local time) with the last flight of Svedenskiold, Armbruester and Lundgren teeing off at 10.59am.
Keep up with all the action on the LETAS on our socials – @LETAccess on Instagram and X and LET Access Series on Facebook.
