Floyd, Alexander blow the field away

Casandra Alexander. Troy Winfield/Sunshine Tour

Kiera Floyd and Casandra Alexander will go into the final round of the Absa Ladies Invitational sharing the lead after the pair of South Africans handled an exacting combination of a gusting wind and testing pin positions with aplomb at Serengeti Estates on Friday.

First-round leader Floyd shot a one-under-par 71 in the second round on Friday to go to six-under par overall. The 19-year-old, playing on her home course, began her round on the back nine and started brilliantly with birdies on the par-five 11th and par-three 12th holes, where she chipped in. She added another birdie on the par-four second hole and led by four strokes at that stage.

But bogeys on the last two par-threes, the fifth and the ninth, dropped her back into a share of the lead as Alexander finished strong by birdieing the seventh and eighth holes.

Floyd, who double-bogeyed the fifth in the first round, once again found the bunker right in a spot without any sand and chipped over the green before getting up-and-down for a four. On her last hole, she three-putted from across the green.

The 24-year-old Alexander also started her second round on the 10th and struggled to a one-over 37 at the turn. But she mounted a superb comeback on the front nine, picking up birdies on the first and second holes. She bogeyed the par-four sixth but an excellent pair of birdies at seven and eight set her up for a final-round shoot-out with Floyd.

They are three shots ahead of another South African, the vastly-experienced Lee-Anne Pace, who collected three birdies in four holes around the turn and posted a one-under 71 on Friday.

Spain’s Harang Lee shot a 69 on Friday and leapt into fourth place on two-under-par and Namibia’s Bonita Bredenhann and South African Stacy Bregman are on one-under.

Floyd is chasing her maiden professional title and is hoping all the hard work she has put into her game and her mental approach pays off under the pressure of the final round and the expectation of home fans.

“I’ve put a lot of hard work into everything – my mental game, my range-work, my putting, my driving – and hopefully it pays off and I can hold all that together and come out on top,” Floyd said. "The last time I was leading going into the final round was as an amateur and I’m looking forward to it, hopefully I can close it off.

“Conditions were a lot tougher today, the pins were tucked and the wind was up as well, and the greens were slower but very difficult to read. It helps that I know this course so well and which way the wind blows. It was swirling a lot today and we had crosswinds, downwinds and winds into you,” Floyd said.

“I had a slow start and struggled for birdies on the back nine, I had a lot of lip-outs and a couple of short-sides cost me drops,” Alexander said.

“It was much harder today because there were some tricky pins and the wind and the pin-placements together made for quite a deadly combination.

“But it’s always a challenge I enjoy and something has definitely clicked this week after I got a new coach at the beginning of the year. When you do that, you go through changes and you have to be patient, even though you just want to score low straight away.

“But my game is getting better, it’s tighter and cleaner and my skew shots are not as skew. We’ll see what happens tomorrow,” Alexander, a four-time winner on the Sunshine Ladies Tour, said.

SCORES

138 - Kiera Floyd 67 71, Casandra Alexander 68 70

141 - Lee-Anne Pace 70 71

142 - Harang Lee (ESP) 73 69

143 - Bonita Bredenhann (NAM) 73 70, Stacy Bregman 70 73

144 - Carolin Kauffmann (GER) 72 72, Tvesa Malik (IND) 72 72, Zethu Myeki 72 72, Isabella van Rooyen 72 72, Ellen Hutchinson-Kay (SWE) 72 72

145 - Hanna Tauber (GER) 75 70, Cara Gorlei 73 72, Anne-Lise Caudal (FRA) 74 71, Verena Gimmy (GER) 72 73

146 - Linette Holmslykke (DEN) 72 74, Lenanda van der Watt 73 73, Tandi McCallum 76 70

147 - Tina Mazarino (NOR) 76 71, Ridhima Dilawari (IND) 74 73, Florentyna Parker (ENG) 72 75, Tereza Melecka (CZE) 72 75, Danielle du Toit 74 73

148 - Romy Meekers (NED) 75 73

149 - Gabriella Cowley (ENG) 81 68, Nina Pegova (WHT) 72 77, Ariane Klotz (FRA) 72 77, Judith van der Voort (NED) 77 72, Michelle Forsland (NOR) 73 76, Nicole Garcia 72 77, Gina Da Silva (a) 77 72

150 - Lora Assad 74 76, Emie Peronnin (FRA) 74 76, Alexandra Swayne (ISV) 74 76, Kaylan Boshoff 77 73

151 - Lindi Coetzee 75 76, Kelsey Nicholas 72 79, Katharina Keilich (GER) 77 74, Lauren Taylor (ENG) 78 73, Jane Turner (SCO) 74 77

152 - Ivanna Samu 78 74, Tara Griebenow 70 82, Michelle Leigh 73 79