Having had a tumour removed in January, golf was the last thing on Lucie Malchirand’s mind heading into the 2026 LET Access Series (LETAS) season.
The 23-year-old Frenchwoman, born in Aix-En-Provence, returned to golf only in April and now co-leads the Arkea Montauban Ladies Open ahead of Sunday’s final round.
At six-under-par overall, Malchirand, who shot back-to-back 69s, is atop the leaderboard alongside compatriot Marine Griffaut, Malaysia’s Genevieve Ling and Denmark’s Sarah Skovgaard Bils.
“Now that the tumour is off, I’m just trying to enjoy myself,” Malchirand said. “I had surgery this winter which made me start the season really late this year. It was really hard for me after what happened, but I love my job.
“I started really well, so it made me comfortable for the rest of the round. Today, my wedges and iron were good, that’s why I had a lot of opportunities to make birdies today.
“I’m feeling really confident for the last round. My game is getting better and better. This is my first event in Europe this season, so it feels really good to be on the leaderboard in France, at home.”
Malchirand started the day strong with three birdies on the front nine before playing the back nine even-par, trading bogeys at holes 11 and 15 for birdies at holes 12 and 16.
She had an opportunity to move into the solo lead on the closing 18th hole, but dragged her eight-foot birdie putt narrowly wide.
Fellow countrywoman Griffaut, who also shot back-to-back rounds of 69 (-3), is a serious contender having recorded three top-10 finishes here including winning the trophy in 2021.
“I feel like this is my garden, I feel so comfortable,” she said. “People are nice to me so I try to use it in a positive way. That’s what carries me around but I’m not going to put so much pressure on myself.
“Being in contention means so much because there’s so many people that helped me with this tournament — Bruno my manager, my sponsor Arkea. I don’t want to do it only for me, but also for them.”
Like Malchirand, Griffaut birdied three of her opening nine holes, but was pegged back with bogeys on holes 12 and 14.
She then steeled herself to finish strong by stringing two birdies together on holes 16 and 17.
“I’m just going to stick to what I’m doing because it works,” Griffaut said. “I feel like I know myself and that’s why I’m in this position, because my process is good. I just breathe a lot and it works. I try to stay aggressive because this is my personality and I try to stick to that.”
Also in the hunt is Malaysia’s Ling, who backed up her opening round 68 (-4) with a second round 70 (-2).
She said: “Overall I’ve worked very hard on my game, so it’s just about trusting my game plan. I rolled a couple more putts in today, so that was a nice little bonus.
“Part of coming here is because I want to go back on the LET Tour, I really enjoyed playing out there. I think we play a lot of great courses, the people are great and the countries we visit are really nice.
“My host family walks with me almost every day, they’re just so supportive and it means a lot coming from far to have a home-cooked meal after a round and just to be taken care of. Yesterday I had stuffed bell peppers, so everything is really healthy.”
LETAS rookie Skovgaard Bils, playing her second event since turning pro at the start of the year, carded a bogey-free 67 (-5) to join the co-leaders at -6.
The Danish player, 23, said: “I’m getting off the tee really well. I was just hitting a lot of good shots out there today, either hitting them really close or having a lot of good long putts.
“I wasn’t really thinking about it (going bogey-free) yesterday either, until I realised I made like 10 pars in a row. Then I was on 18 and had a six-foot putt for par, this is gonna suck if I missed this for a bogey free round, but I made it.”
Two shots behind the leaders at -4 for the tournament are Switzerland’s Caroline Sturdza (67) and Canada’s Ashley Chow (71).
The trio of French amateur Louise Depadt (72), Sweden’s Lovisa Gunnar (70) and the United Arab Emirates’ Kang Hyeonji (70) are a shot further back at -3.
Overnight leader Kim Gyurin (75) is tied for 10th place at -2 with five other players.
With the cut line set at +3, 57 players will return on Sunday to compete for the trophy.
Round three will begin at 8.30 am (local time) with the final flight of Griffaut, Skovgaard Bils and Ling teeing off at 11.35am.
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