LET Rookie Charley Hull, 17

Two of the world’s most promising young golfers are set for an exciting final round duel in the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco on Sunday.

England’s Charley Hull, 17, making her debut as a professional on the Ladies European Tour, shot a seven under par 64 at Golf de l’Ocean in Agadir on Saturday to lead on 11 under par after three rounds.

She is one stroke clear of fellow 17-year-old rookie Ariya Jutanugarn from Thailand, both players having graduated from tour school in Morocco in December.

Hull had a solid day on the greens, rolling in eight birdie putts and dropping just one shot at the par-3 ninth after missing the green.  

“I played well but I still feel that I left four putts out there that edged the hole,” Hull said. “The first was four feet, the second about eight feet, the 12th edged the hole again and then the 16th. It could have been even lower.

“I just played simple golf: fairways, greens and if I got in trouble I kept my head down and got on with it. I’ll just approach tomorrow like any other round. I’m not thinking about any score; just one shot at a time.”

Ariya Jutanugarn

The powerfully built Jutanugarn, who is long off the tee and deadly accurate with her approach shots, missed two birdie chances from just three feet on holes five and 15.

She said: “Today everything was very good, but I missed a lot of short putts. This tournament, my putting has not been very good so I tried to fix it every day and maybe I have to work harder. Putting is the key for me.”

American duo Beth Allen and Katie Burnett ended the day in a share of third at eight under par with South African Lee-Anne Pace. England’s Laura Davies and Mikaela Parmlid of Sweden are at five under, six strokes from the lead.

Australian Sarah Kemp sits a stroke further back on four under, followed by England’s Melissa Reid and Mallory Fraiche of the United States in a share of ninth place.

While conditions at Agadir were warm and sunny with a gentle breeze, none of the early starters managed better than Florentyna Parker’s five under 66, which took her from 55th into a tie for 11th with five other players.

However, it is hard to look past the talented teenage duo of Hull and Jutanugarn on Sunday given their impressive performances over the past three days.