Home favourite Carlota Ciganda continued her good form at the Andaluc\u00eda Costa del Sol Open de Espa\u00f1a and leads by three shots heading into the final day.<\/p>\n
After rounds of 70 and 66 on the first two days, the Spaniard produced a round of 70 (-2) to move to a total of 10-under-par at Los Naranjos Golf Club.<\/p>\n
Though it wasn\u2019t the most straightforward of rounds for the Solheim Cup star, who got off to a blistering start with three birdies in her opening four holes.<\/p>\n
However, she followed that with three bogeys and made the turn in 36, but three birdies and one bogey on the back nine ensured the four-time LET winner remained at the summit of the leaderboard.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m very happy, I think shooting under par today was as good as shooting six-under yesterday. I think it was a very tricky day, very windy and very tough. This course is tricky with the wind so I\u2019m very happy with the way I handled myself and the last three holes,\u201d said Ciganda.<\/p>\n
\u201cI thought today if I could get to 10-under, it was a great score. It started great with three birdies in the first four holes but then one bad tee shot and one short putt \u2013 anything can happen with this golf course. I tried to keep hitting good shots and keep focused and I think we did a great job.\u201d<\/p>\n
Ciganda will play alongside 2021 Race to Costa del Sol Champion Atthaya Thitikul in the final round with the teenager moving up to second place and the Spanish star is excited to tee it up with Thitikul again.<\/p>\n
She continued: \u201cI played with her [Atthaya] in Saudi, she\u2019s a great player who is very consistent. She has won the Race to Costa del Sol by a mile so that says something. I think it will be a good day and I will try to focus on doing my thing and hopefully it is good enough.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thitikul carded the round of the day, a 67 (-5), rolling in six birdies and one bogey to climb up the leaderboard and sit three shots behind Ciganda on seven-under-par.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m trying to beat myself every single day because I know I had a pretty good shot every day I just missed a couple of putts but today I gave myself a lot of chances and made more putts than the last two days,\u201d said Thitikul.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve got used to playing in the wind and hopefully I can learn from it as well because it can destroy your game too, but it\u2019s getting better than it was before.\u201d<\/p>\n
On the prospect of a battle with Ciganda on the final day, Thitikul was her relaxed self and is sticking to what she knows best.<\/p>\n
\u201cEveryone wants to win the tournament, she\u2019s an LPGA player and she\u2019s playing fantastic golf so let\u2019s see who will get the win tomorrow, but I\u2019ll just focus on my game,\u201d she added.\u201d<\/p>\n
Sweden\u2019s Maja Stark and Finland\u2019s Ursula Wikstrom sit next on the leaderboard in a share of third place on five-under-par.<\/p>\n
Two-time LET winner Stark got off to a bad start on day three with a double bogey but rolled in three birdies on the rest of the front nine.<\/p>\n
Two bogeys and four birdies on the back nine, including two birdies in the last three holes, meant the Swede carded a 69 (-3) to move into third place.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was a rollercoaster day, I started off poorly on the first \u2013 I miscalculated with the wind, so I hit it past the green then hit a bad chip, so it rolled down again before a two-putt,\u201d said Stark. \u201cIt was probably one of the best putting rounds of my life, I messed up a little bit on one of the holes but overall, it was pretty good.<\/p>\n
\u201cI had a lot of trouble with the wind, because I thought it would be going one way, and then I would look at the clouds and it was going another way, then look at the trees and it was going another way again, but I worked it out as the day went on.<\/p>\n
\u201cTomorrow I\u2019m just going to go out and try to make some more birdies, I know I\u2019ve got to win it to make it into the top five of the Race to Costa del Sol rankings so that\u2019s what I\u2019ll be going for.\u201d<\/p>\n
Wikstrom produced another solid day with a round of 71 (-1), which included three bogeys and four birdies, to join Stark on five-under-par with one round left.<\/p>\n
\u201cToday was a windy one, pretty similar to the first day \u2013 making it harder to get to the pins, everything was a bit tougher but mostly it was OK, there were no big mistakes apart from my putting at the beginning of the round for the bogeys, but otherwise I played a solid game,\u201d said the Finn. \u201cIt\u2019s always nice to be in contention and challenge yourself to be in those places, that\u2019s why we are here.\u201d<\/p>\n
Spain\u2019s Fatima Fernandez Cano sits in solo fifth place on four-under-par \u2013 six shots back from compatriot Ciganda \u2013 after a round of 75.<\/p>\n
In sixth place is Australia\u2019s Whitney Hillier, who followed her 72 and 70 on the first two days with a 71 in round three to be three-under-par.<\/p>\n
Sweden\u2019s Jessica Karlsson carded a 68 (-4) to move to tied seventh on two-under-par alongside Australia\u2019s Stephanie Kyriacou and Belgium\u2019s Manon De Roey.<\/p>\n
While four players are in a share of tenth place with Spanish duo Laura Gomez Ruiz and Ana Pelaez and Swedish pair Caroline Hedwall and Lina Boqvist all on one-under-par.<\/p>\n
Follow all the action on @LETGolf on Instagram and Twitter and Ladies European Tour on Facebook – #RaiseOurGame #OpenDeEspana #RaceToCostaDelSol.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Home favourite Carlota Ciganda continued her good form at the Andaluc\u00eda Costa del Sol Open de Espa\u00f1a and leads by three shots heading into the final day. After rounds of 70 and 66 on the first two days, the Spaniard produced a round of 70 (-2) to move to a total of 10-under-par at Los<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":10419,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_vp_format_video_url":"","_vp_image_focal_point":[]},"categories":[865,45,864,881],"tags":[918,1919,1984,1987,2012,2323,594,2062],"aioseo_notices":[],"aioseo_head":"\n\t\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t\n\t\t