Annabel Dimmock moved into contention for a first Ladies European Tour victory in five years after grabbing a two-shot lead after three rounds at the KPMG Women’s Irish Open.
Dimmock followed a second-round 66 with a sensational bogey-free 65 on Saturday on the O’Meara Course at Carlton House, carding eight birdies to register the lowest round of the week and head into the final day on 16 under.
The Englishwoman took advantage of the first two par-fives on the front nine and followed a birdie at the seventh with back-to-back gains around the turn, before three birdies over the final four holes lifted her top of the leaderboard.
Dimmock has carded rounds of 72, 66 and 65 to grab the 54-hole lead in Ireland. Credit: Tristan Jones/LET
Dimmock’s total saw her break the course record for the second successive day and leave her two ahead of halfway leader Ursula Wikstrom, with Alessandra Fanali and Spain’s Luna Sobron Galmes a further two strokes back and tied-third on 12 under.
“No matter what happens tomorrow [Sunday], this week has been huge for me,” said Dimmock, who has played a limited schedule since thumb surgery last year. “To know that I’m still there, don’t forget about me. It’s been a really rough eight months that I was out.
“I will go out there and stick to my game plan and I said to my dad at the start of the week that if I can swing in this good tempo all week, we’ve won this week. That’s what I’m going to go out there and do tomorrow.”
Over 12,000 fans were in attendance on Saturday, a record since it returned to the Ladies European Tour schedule in 2022, with Wikstrom still in contention after a four-under 69 lifted her to 14 under.
Ursula Wikstrom had held the halfway lead after back-to-back 68s over the first two days
“Today was a little bit tougher out there,” Wikstrom said. “The wind was much tougher, so it made it not that easy to get it close to the pins. My putter was not as hot, but luckily towards the end it was getting a bit better.”
Fanali and Sobron carded third-round 70s to remain within four of the lead, while France’s Pauline Roussin-Bouchard is in outright fifth place on 11 under.
Sweden’s Corinne Viden and Australia’s Kirsten Rudgeley are just one shot further back in tied-sixth, while Slovenia’s Pia Babnik, Belgium’s Manon De Roey, Sweden’s Linnea Johansson and Switzerland’s Chiara Tamburlini all sit inside the top 10.
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Solheim Cup stars Leona Maguire and Georgia Hall both head into the final day 11 back and in tied-27th, having both carded one-under 72s on Saturday.
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