Laura Murray
Scotland’s Laura Murray extended her lead at the Golf Club am Meer with a fine four-under round of 68 on the second day at the German event. Murray ended the day in Bad Zwischenahn -12 for the tournament, with France’s Marie Fourquier and Italy’s Lucrezia Colombotto Rosso – runner-up in the WPGA International Challenge two weeks ago – the nearest challengers on -7 after the opening 36 holes.
Murray began the day on the tenth, with a two-shot lead, and took no time to extend the lead with a birdie on the short par-4. A series of pars followed before a second birdie at 18 consolidated Murray’s lead at the top of the leaderboard at the midway point in her round.
The back nine did not begin as smoothly with a bogey at the first, followed shortly by a second dropped shot at three, which brought the experienced LET Access Series player back in the reaches of the chasing pack. The blip, which Murray put down to a lapse in concentration, didn’t last long for the leader as the 31-year-old birdied four of the final six holes to end the day four-under and -12 for the championship.
“I hit the ball just as nicely today but I didn’t really hole that much on the front nine. I made a mistake on the first hole, and then I bogeyed the third and then thought ‘OK – this isn’t going to be so exciting.’ But I actually holed a few putts towards the end so that made up for it.
My driver could have behaved a little better, but my long irons are so solid right now that it didn’t matter so much. So, if one part of my game fell by the wayside a little then the other picked it up and that’s what you want.”
Murray has been in fine form with four consecutive top-10 finishes on the LET Access Series and this week has added a new putter to the bag which the Scot credits with her improvements on the greens at the German course this week.
“It’s still in the bag for tomorrow for sure because I holed a 20 footer on the last and a 10 footer on the hole before both for birdie. So, it’s still in the good books.
I’m going to treat it the same as I have the last two days, trying to be quite aggressive off the tee. I’ll just plod my way round, do my own thing and if it works out then it does.”
The Aberdeen-born player last tasted victory on the LET Access Series in 2016 taking the Elisefarm Ladies Open crown but looks in great shape to add another Tour victory heading into the final day’s play at the German course.
The Rügenwalder Mühle Ladies Open is the penultimate event on the LETAS calendar, and the final opportunity to taste victory in the 2019 Series, before the season-ending Road to La Largue Final in a week’s time. As such, with the German contest also the final chance to secure vital qualifying points ahead of the season finale in France, there is much to play throughout the Rügenwalder field.
