The fresh south-easterly is keeping the temperature in check and also having an impact on the leaderboard, with birdies becoming hard to come by.
Equal overnight leader Britain’s Mimi Rhodes leads by two at -14 with five holes to play.
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Allesandra Fanali, Bianca Fernandez are in equal second. the italian Fanali is five under for the day, while the spaniard, Fernandez is four under.
Overnight leader Sara Kouskova, Kirsten Rudgeley and Nuria Itturrioz are tied in 4th place at -11. Iturrioz having the equal best round of the day at minus 5.
Indian player Pranavi Urs, has gone on a tear on the back nine, birdieing five holes in a row from the 10th to rocket up the leaderboard and into ninth overall.
Leading amateur for the tournament is NSW Amateur Champion Grace Rho, who is three under for her round and tied for 10th at seven under.
12.20pm: Winds revealing a different, tougher Wollongong
England’s Mimi Rhodes is outright leader in the Ford Women’s NSW Open through the front nine at Wollongong Golf Club.
The 22-year-old is even for the day as players battle tricky winds on this seaside course next to the Pacific Ocean.
The links would always show their teeth at some point and that is the case here in the third round of the Ford Women’s NSW Open at Wollongong Golf Club.
Not overly long, and with few trees, the course has yielded plenty of birdies through the first two days with winds out of the north-east allowing easy access to most of the five par-fives.
But it’s a different story today. The winds are coming in the opposite direction (south-east) and expected to blow a little harder through the afternoon, completely flipping the course on its head.
The leaders are still where they were last night—at 12 under through four holes. The only real charge this morning so far coming from Singapore’s Shannon Tan (-4) and England’s Annabell Fuller, who was -5 for her round at one point but has slipped back to -3.
Sweden’s Moa Folke is two under for her round this morning to be at -10 for the tournament and in a share of third. Of the players under par today, some of it is luck – no better example than Spain’s Blanca Fernandez, who holed a spinning chip for eagle on the second hole.
Australia’s Kirsten Rudgeley is one-under for her round and at -10 for the tournament. At the Ford hole-in-one challenge on the third, Rudgeley almost holed out, only inches away from the $150k Ford F-150 Lariat, hitting her shot under the wind onto the front fringe which then fed down to the hole, looking for the longest time that it would drop. It didn’t, but it was one of the shots of the morning so far.
11.25am: Leaders Are Away
The lead group of Kirsten Rudgeley, Mimi Rhodes, and Sara Kouskova have begun their third round in their quest for the Jan Stephenson Trophy.
The course is set up perfectly for scoring, with plenty of players making their move on the leaders. Moves have been made by Switzerland’s Kim Metraux who has birdied her opening two holes to be at-9 for the championship, along with Spaniard Blanca Fernandez with a spectacular eagle chip-in eagle on the par-four second to also be at -2 for her round and -10 in outright third.
The best of the rest are England’s Annabell Fuller and Korean Min A Yoon, who are both at four under for the day and now into a tie for 10th at minus six for the tournament.
Others going low include Shannon Tan, Wales Darcey Harry, Ariane Klotz and Pauline Rousssin-Bouchard of France, Hong Kong’s Ginny Ding and two-time Women’s NSW Open Regional Qualifier winner, Lidia Hall, who are all at three under par for the day.
10.50AM: Fuller Sends an Early Message
England’s Annabell Fuller is on fire in the third round of the Ford Women’s NSW Open, currently five-under for her round (through six holes) to be in a tie for sixth as the final groups get underway at Wollongong Golf Club.
The 22-year-old three-time Curtis Cup player only has two pars so far, with three birdies and an eagle on the par-five 13th.
Welsh newcomer Darcey Harry has also started well, two-under for the morning (through six) to be at -4 for the championship and heading the right way on Moving Day at the Open.
Singaporean Shannan Tan is three-under through four holes this morning and sitting in a tie for 10th at -6 for the championship.
They are all chasing co-leaders England’s Mimi Rhodes and Czechia’s Sara Kouskova who are both at -12, three clear of Australia’s Kirsten Rudgeley. The leaders go at 11.21 am from the first tee.
8.30am: Fortune favours the brave on Moving Day
Play is about to get underway in the third round of the Ford Women’s NSW Open at Wollongong Golf Club in what is shaping up as an exciting weekend of professional golf.
The co-sanctioned WPGA and Ladies European Tour event is the final stop on the Australian swing, with plenty on the line for the winner, not the least their name on the coveted Jan Stephenson Trophy.
Some players have a few holes left to complete the second round this morning after storms threatened the region late yesterday, forcing officials to abandon play for 80 minutes.
Leading the event is Englishwoman Mimi Rhodes and Czechia’s Sara Kouskova at -12, three clear of Australia’s Kirsten Rudgeley at -9. Rhodes will be hoping to emulate her round from yesterday, where she smashed the course record with a 10-birdie round of 62. A swag of internationals are within striking distance on Moving Day as the event heads into the weekend.
The weather is mild and overcast, and the winds light from the southeast, with the odd shower thrown in. The forecast is for the winds to strengthen throughout the day to around 30km/h by midday, a 180-degree shift in direction from the first two rounds.
Huge reward for the shot of a lifetime!
Do you want to Go Big this weekend? How sweet would it be driving away in a brand-new Ford F-150 Lariat!
The Ford F-150 Lariat is a classic pickup truck that’s huge on technology, capability, and performance.
One lucky golfer in the Ford Women’s NSW Open at Wollongong Golf Club who made the cut could grab the keys to a vehicle that turns heads and breaks hearts.
All they have to do is hit that once-in-a-lifetime shot on the par-three 177-metre third hole here at Wollongong Golf Club.
Join us for extensive coverage of the third round by following our social media, live updates on our website, and on Fox Sports and Kayo with live streaming starting at 11am AEDST.
To be closer to the action why not make the trip to Wollongong Golf Club where amazing hospitality awaits and the opportunity to walk the fairways and watch some of the best women players in the world taking on a true links-style layout.
