At the top of the tree Thailand’s Patty Tavatanakit
remained calm and composed, as a solid round of three-under-par moved her one
step closer to her first Aramco Saudi Ladies International Presented by PIF title,
sitting four strokes clear at 11-under-par overall.
The gravity of the opportunity for Tavatanakit to
claim her first win since her Major victory at the 2021 ANA Championship is not
lost on the Thai star – addressing the pressure of the moment head on.
“Honestly, you have to think about [winning], right?”,
said Tavatanakit. “You're thinking about it, so what are you going to do about
those thoughts?
“Tomorrow, all I want to do is make the right choices
for each and every shot. Whatever it is that I'm going to face, I'm up for
it.”
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Elsewhere, it was a day to remember for two of the
German players, as Alexandra Forsterling’s clinical five-under-par was later
bested by her compatriot Esther Henselheit, who fired a blistering
seven-under-par, with her score of 65 moving her firmly into contention in
second place.
Heinseleit commended her fiancé Reece Phillips for his
impactful role, which extends beyond moral support. As her coach and caddie,
the Englishman Phillips has played a significant role in the German’s
development.
“He’s certainly doing it all in one,” laughed
Heinseleit at the unusual blend of roles. “He’s been helping me a lot with my
swing over the last three years, and it looks completely different now. We have
a good system now out there, and it’s good to have someone like that on the
bag.”
“I hit lots of fairways and then hit my irons really
close – there were lots of short birdie putts for me, and I pretty much made
all of them.”
Former Aramco Saudi Ladies International Presented by
PIF champions Georgia Hall and Emily Pedersen also fought bravely to ascend the
leaderboard, with Hall’s three-under-par bringing her into seventh place.
2020 champion Pedersen, however, recorded a sizzling
six-under-par to join Charley Hull tied for third place, and the Danish No.1 is
keen to make the most of the opportunity she’s given herself.
“It was special for me to win [in Saudi Arabia] five
years ago, so it would mean a lot to win again and obviously, that's what I'm
here for,” said Pedersen.
“It's nice to be in contention as much as possible,
it's where you feel you're alive and it's what all of the hard works comes down
to.”
The race for the largest prize-funded Ladies European
Tour (LET) event outside of the Majors is approaching a pulsating climax, with
a host of superb performances on day three setting up a grandstand
finish.
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