Christel Boeljon of the Netherlands kept the successful defence of her Turkish Airlines Ladies Open title firmly on track on Saturday.
This by shooting a third round 4-under 69 that will take her into the final round of this event at the National Golf Club in Belek, Antalya, on Sunday with a two-shot lead over the chasing Fins, Minea Blomqvist, who shot a 70, and Ursula Wikstrom who carded a 71.
But perhaps her biggest threat heading down the closing stretch on Sunday will be the 21-year-old Spanish rookie, Carlota Ciganda, who uspstaged the entire field on Sunday by blazing in under the radar with a stunning
7-under 66 that broke the course record for lady professionals and hoisted her into 4th place, a mere three shots off the pace.
Ciganda opened with a bogey on the par-five first hole after hitting her second shot left into the trees and with no shot to the green had to play out sideways on to the fairway, but the young Spaniard showed great spirit to charge right back with four birdies in a row from the second, sinking putts from three, eight, one metre and two metres respectively and added a fifth birdie at the par-four eighth hole, to go through the turn at 5-under.
Coming home she made a one metre birdie putt at the 10th before missing a two metre putt for an eagle opportunity on the par-five 14th.
Unfazed she birdied the 15th from three metres and the 16th from five metres before she lost some of her momentum on the last two holes were she seemed to tighten up when she realised just how well she was doing.
A second bogey at the 17th after missing the green and a missed a two metre birdie putt on 18 was enough to rob her of the very real chance she had of tying Boeljon for the lead
"It was one of those days when almost everything went right. I hit 16 greens, mostly close to the pins, and needed only 26 putts. I was playing great and I'm happy with the round.
Having won a Spanish Tour Championship a fortnight ago, Ciganda now feels ready to step up and win in her first season as a member of the Ladies European Tour.
"I feel ready but I know it's not going to be easy because I know there are many great players out there. Anything can happen. Today I shot seven under but tomorrow it's a new day and anything can happen.
"Tomorrow is a new day and I just want to go shot by shot, hole by hole and have a great day and enjoy Turkey.
Buoyed by memories of her victory last year, Boeljon will be hard to catch, though.
A birdie at the first on Saturday was followed by a stunning eagle at the par-five fourth, where she struck a three-wood to 10 feet and made the putt. A bogey at the sixth was countered by another birdie at the ninth, resulting in an outward half of three under 33.
A run of three straight birdies from the 11th preceded a double bogey at the 14th, but a great save on 17 after she twice hit the trees secured an inward half of one under 36.
"Today I played very solid. It was a shame about the 14th hole but I think overall four under on this golf course is a good score," said Boeljon.
"On 17, I hit a bad shot off the tee. It was in the trees off the right and then didn't hit a very good shot out of the trees, so I was still in the trees and then I hit a very good gap wedge which ended a couple of inches from the hole. That was a good shot and saved my par so that was an important hole for me."
Despite her lead, Boeljon isn't allowing herself to get complacent:
"I don't think with any score you could be comfortable going into the last round. There's a lot of golf left and it's a tough course," she said.
Top 10 Leaderboard
212 Christel Boeljon (Ned) 70 73 69
214 Minea Blomqvist (Fin) 72 72 70, Ursula Wikstrom (Fin) 73 70 71
215 Carlota Ciganda (Isp) 73 76 66
217 Line Vedel (Nor) 76 73 68, Carin Koch (Swe) 72 77 68, Diana Luna (Ita) 70 75 72
218 Holly Aitchison (Eng) 74 74 70, Rebecca Hudson (Eng) 72 75 71, Charley Hull (Eng - am) 73 72 73
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