For the first two days of the 2016 RACV Ladies Masters everyone was wondering what all the fuss had been about regarding the difficulty of the newly re-designed RACV Royal Pines layout. Over the first 36 holes of the tournament the conditions had been favourable and the scoring had been impressive.

Fast forward to 6:30 am this morning and it was obvious to all that this was going to be one tough day at the office for the 75 players who had made the halfway cut. The wind was already gusting to more than 55km/h and Royal Pines would be ready to show it’s teeth.

From the moment the first group teed off at 7:45am and 3 time RACV Ladies Masters champion Laura Davies started her round with a triple bogey it was clear to all that scoring was going to be very tough on day three.

Sweden’s Camilla Lennarth and the talented young Dane Nicole Broch Larsen had held the overnight lead at 10 under par, two shots clear over  18 year old Canadian sensation Brooke Henderson and former world number 1 Jiyai Shin, and 3 shots ahead of talented Englishwoman Holly Clyburn and Korean So Young Lee.

The lead would soon disappear for both Lennarth and Broch Larsen, with Lennarth bogeying the first two holes, and Broch Larsen getting off to an even worse start making a bogey at the first hole and a double bogey at the second hole.

The lead would change times several times during the course of the day, Holly Clyburn was putting a solid round together and found herself at the top of the leaderboard at 10 under par after being 3 under for her round through 16 holes, however a disappointing  bogey bogey finish would see her drop back to 8 under par after shooting a one under par 72 and a 3 round total of 8 under par.

The player whom many had felt today’s tough conditions would suit best was former world number one Jiyai Shin. While Shin perhaps lacks the length off the tee of her younger compatriots she more than makes up for that with her consistency and that showed today when she put together the only bogey free round of the day, almost unfathomable given the conditions. Her two birdies at the 8th and another at the last saw her signing for a 2 under par round of 71, a 54 hole total of 10 under par and a 2 shot lead over Clyburn and Lennarth, who had fought back well after being 4 over par after 6 holes.

Shin was obviously delighted with her round today, “This morning when I came to the golf course I thought, can we play, because it was so windy out there. I`m really happy I made no bogies today. Yesterday when I spoke with my dad he said, you made three bogies today, maybe try to make fewer bogies tomorrow. I kept thinking of this on the course today. I spoke with my caddy throughout today and he told me that I made solid shots all day”

Shin had turned down an opportunity to play in Thailand at the Honda LPGA event but chose instead to play here this week. “The sponsor kept asking me to play but I`m here”

The final round will begin at 7:20am tomorrow.

For 3rd round scores and round 4 tee times goto http://alpg.com.au/tournament.php?id=4261&pid=1150&sec=lb

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