Golf:A delighted Yani Tseng of Taiwan retained her four-shot lead going into the final round of today's Women's British Open after she eagled the last hole for a third consecutive four under 68.
Tseng parred the first 12 holes at Royal Birkdale to maintain her overnight position at eight under before birdies at the 13th and 15th further strengthened her hold on the event.
She finished with a flourish by draining a 20-foot eagle putt at the 432-yard closer - and later claimed that her caddie’s uncertainty inspired her.
“Before we got to the green, my caddie told me: ‘Let’s see if we can make this’.
“And I was like: ‘You don’t think I can make this?’ so I felt pumped up. I really wanted to make that,” said Tseng, who also revealed she eased the pressure on the way round the course by singing “old-school songs in Taiwanese” to herself.
Australia’s Katherine Hull surged into second place after finishing a hitherto unspectacular round with five successive birdies for a 66, six under on the day and eight under overall.
But even that round was bettered by Morgan Pressel, who bounced back from starting her round with back-to-back bogeys to record eight birdies and an eagle three at the 17th for a 65, rocketing her up the leaderboard to a share of 10th place on three under.
“Those first two holes are just very difficult, and you take two bogeys,” she said. “I bogeyed both of them first thing and made two straight birdies right after that.
“I just made a lot of putts. That’s really how you score out here. I hit 14 greens, I had 25 putts.”
South Korea’s In Kyung Kim is third overall at six under, two shots behind Hull and one ahead of Brittany Lincicome, after four birdies and a closing eagle in a 68.
A group of five players - Kim’s compatriot Seo Hee-kyung, Japan’s Momoko Ueda, Americans Christina Kim and Cristie Kerr and Suzann Petterson of Norway- follow on four under, with Pressel alongside Na Yeon Choi.
Karine Icher of France and Spain’s Maria Hernandez provide an overdue European presence at level par, with Wales’ Becky Brewerton the leading British player a further shot back alongside another Spaniard in Azahara Munoz Guijarro and France’s Anne-Lise Caudal.
Brewerton provided the highlight of the day, though, with a hole-in-one at the par-three 12th.
The five-iron blow was the first ace of her career, and she said: “To have it here, at this tournament as well, was brilliant.
“The shot was great all the way. It looked really good but I couldn’t see it go in. There was quite a big crowd to the left of the green and they all went nuts. I didn’t know what to do with myself.”