Cottesloe Golf Club’s Katie Seol leads the Bowra & O’Dea Women’s Classic with 18 holes to play, but a stacked leaderboard is in hot pursuit.
WA state representative Seol, aged 14, carded a one-under-par 73 in her third round at Lake Karrinyup Country Club on Tuesday and will take a one-shot lead into Wednesday’s final round at +4 for the championship.
Four bogeys in her opening nine holes — including three in a row from the seventh — might have derailed a lesser player’s challenge, but the steely Seol bounced back in style on the way in.
A birdie at the par-five 11th was just the tonic Seol needed to revive her fortunes and she duly knocked in another on the par-three 12th.
Making the most of the par fives is imperative to score well around Lake Karrinyup’s testing layout and Seol did precisely that, picking up two more strokes at the long 15th and 16th holes before a majestic approach to the par-four 18th granted her a fifth birdie of the day as she swept home in just 32 strokes.
“That first nine really wasn’t very good, but I got a little bit of luck on the back nine and a few putts started to drop, which was nice,” Seol told GolfWA.
The winner of the Junior Masters of WA in July, Seol knows a thing or two about successful frontrunning, but says she’s taking nothing for granted heading into the last day.
“There are a lot of really good players here and it’s very close at the top, so we’ll just have to see what happens tomorrow,” she added.
The chasing pack
One of the players likely to challenge Seol is 13-year-old Victorian Fuyu Yang, who continued to show maturity beyond her years throughout her third round.
Opening with nine consecutive pars before a birdie at the 10th, the diminutive Yang was at one point several shots clear of playing partner Seol, but three bogeys coming home saw her finish the day in outright second place after a one-over-par 75.
Overnight leader Ruby Cotton (Mount Lawley) remains in touch, just a shot further adrift, after a three-over 77 today and was left to rue a succession of missed birdie putts throughout her round.
She shares third place with Queensland’s Grace Rho, who is lurking with intent after firing a best-of-the-week 72 (two-under-par) in her third round.
After a disappointing 80 to open the championship, Rho has steadily improved with each round (76, 72) and will take some stopping if her upward trend continues on Wednesday.
Queenslander Grace Rho has markedly improved round-on-round
Rounding out the top five is Joondalup Country Club’s Amie Phobubpa, who lies four strokes back from Seol’s lead after a second consecutive 73 today.
If not for an uncharacteristic 84 in her first round, WA state golfer Phobubpa would be right in amongst it and certainly remains a viable contender with 18 holes still to play if she gets off to a fast start tomorrow.
Elsewhere, Nadine Smith (WAGC) continues to dominate the Mid-Amateur tournament after adding a 79 to her opening 82 to move 23 shots clear of her nearest rival.
Meanwhile, Lake Karrinyup’s Carmen Palframan has retained her lead in the Senior competition after a round of 86 today. She’s currently three clear of clubmate Yi Cui.
View all the leaderboards here.
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