The Ladies European Tour’s Henderson Money List leader Lee-Anne Pace from South Africa seized a three stroke lead heading into the final round of the Finnair Masters.
The 29-year-old from Mossel Bay shot a seven-under 64 at Helsinki Golf Club on Saturday, to lead on a 12-under-par 36-hole total ahead of Scotland’s Vikki Laing.
Pace was well placed to collect her third Ladies European Tour trophy of the season after her second round, containing seven birdies and no bogeys.
She looked totally relaxed as she stepped onto the tee on Saturday, safe in the knowledge that the purse she had lost on a tram on Friday evening had been safely recovered.
The purse was discovered on the seat of a tram by a couple of honest young girls who handed it into the police and Pace was able to collect it from the station in the city centre before her 1.40pm tee time.
Pace could hardly sleep the night before with stress but was notified at breakfast. “I was under so much stress last night and had so many tickets to book and things to do on my credit card for the rest of the year. China is coming up and I was thinking, ‘What am I going to do?’”
With her heart rate lowered, Pace tapped in for birdie at the first hole then picked up shots at the seventh and eighth holes to take a one stroke advantage.
She extended her lead by draining a 25 ft birdie putt at the 10th and tapped in for another birdie at the 13th after hitting an impressive third shot stone dead from under the trees.
She rolled in a four-footer for birdie on 14 and three-putted the par-five 17th for a par before stiffing a six-iron to five feet and holing the birdie putt at the last. “I enjoyed that one,” said Pace. “I missed a short one on 17 and was like, ‘Forget about it; birdie this one,’ and I did.
“I was very happy with my game, the same as yesterday. I hit it closer I think today and I had two or three tap-ins, which were guaranteed birdies, so that’s nice.
