Germany’s Chiara Noja continued her good form at the Terre Blanche Ladies Open carding a second round of 70 (-2) to lead heading into the final day.
The 16-year-old began the day at the top of the leaderboard after an opening round of 67 (-5) and once again, she started well.
A birdie on the second and another on the sixth put Noja in the outright lead and from there she rolled in 12 consecutive pars to record a bogey-free 70 and put herself on seven-under-par for the tournament.
“The wind was strong today. I think strong is an understatement, it was harsh,” said the teenager “The temperatures dropped very quikcly so it was definitely an environment I was not used to and I was really battling with the conditions out there.
“Two birdies on the front nine to get the round going pretty early on, but once that wind picked up fighting for par was basically what I was doing and I managed to do that pretty well. I was bogey-free and was happy to manage to hole some putts and hit some difficult shots.”
Noja will be in the final group tomorrow, something she has experienced before at last year’s Golf Flanders LETAS Trophy, where she ended the tournament in a tie for second place.
But the young German won’t let that change her mindset and is contuining to stick to her processes as she heads into the final 18 holes.
“Going into the final round and in the final group is always fun, but I don’t think it’s going to change much about the way I’m going to think,” she continued.
“I will stick to the process. Every shot counts, it doesn’t matter if I’m playing for 20th place or 1st and it is about sticking to the process and committing to the shots I want to hit.”
Lucrezia Colombotto Rosso produced the round of the day with a 69 (-3) to move into second place with one round remaining.
The Italian rolled in back-to-back birdies on her first two holes and picked up a couple of shots around the turn going bogey-birdie-birdie from eight to ten.
After dealing with the conditions admirably, she bogeyed 17 but finished her round well with a birdie on the last to be at five-under for the tournament.
Three players are in a share of third place including France’s Yvie Chaucheprat, who was the co-leader after day one.
The Frenchwoman carded a round of 74 (+2) which included one double bogey, four bogeys, two birdies and an eagle on the last.
Chaucheprat is alongside Swiss amateur Elena Moosmann and Spanish amateur Clara Moyano Reigosa, who both signed for rounds of 71 (-1).
England’s Gemma Clews and French amateur Maylis Lamoure are tied for sixth on two-under-par, while France’s Constance Fouillet, Finland’s Karina Kukkonen and Spain’s Noemi Jimenez Martin round out the top ten on one-under-par.
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