Annika Sorenstam recovered from an opening-hole bogey to shoot her second straight 4-under-par 68 on Saturday and increase her lead to seven strokes after three rounds of the Dubai Ladies Masters.
The Swede improved to 15-under 201 heading into the final round of the 500,000 euros (US$634,150) season-ending event on the Ladies European Tour. Australia's Karrie Webb was the closest, finishing with a 2-under 70 for a 208.
European Solheim Cup captain Helen Alfredsson of Sweden matched Sorenstam's 68 and was alone in third place at 7-under 209, one shot ahead of Italian Veronica Zorzi (69), Germany's Martina Eberl (70), Australian Sarah Kemp (70) and England's Trish Johnson (71).
PHOTO: AP
Sorenstam opened with bogey after hitting a poor second shot on the par-4 No. 1 and repeated the flub on the par-5 third to cost her a birdie opportunity.
"I just can't explain what happened in the first few holes," Sorenstam said. "But I like to look at the positives, and the fact that I made six birdies in the last 15 holes is good enough for me."
"I have to be solid on Sunday [yesterday] because I know that Karrie is having a great year and that she is capable of shooting some very low numbers," she said.
Webb struggled on the back nine, coming in 1 over.
"I was going great till the back nine," she said. "I made the turn at 3 under, and then somehow lost my rhythm."
"It would have been great if I had closed the gap with Annika to three shots, but I am very hopeful of putting a fight tomorrow [yesterday]," Webb added.
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