Photograph courtesy of Tristan Jones Photography/LET

Dutch star Anne Van Dam and Slovenia’s sole female professional player Katja Pogacar will head into tomorrow`s final round of the 2019 ActewAGL Canberra Classic tied at the top of the leaderboard after both players fired spectacular second rounds today at Royal Canberra Golf Club. 

The duo sit at 11-under-par after 36 holes, Van Dam shooting an 8-under-par 63 and Pocagar a 7-under par 64 and lead by one shot to three-time Ladies European Tour winner, Scotland’s Carly Booth, with defending champion Jiyai Shin a stroke further back in a tie for third place at 9-under par with Belgian Manon De Roey

The second-year professional Pogacar is leading a tournament for the first time in her career and hopes to become the first golfer from her country to win on a women`s professional tour.  The 23-year-old was clearly delighted with her round today and her position heading into the final round.

“It feels awesome. I’m really excited,” said the 28-year-old from Ljubljana. “I played some solid shots and I had to wait for the putts to roll in and I waited patiently until the end, so it was really nice, especially on the last hole, which was in all the way, with three percent break to the right. I was a really good one.”

“I have ‘Slovenia’ written on the back of my shirt so that people can see where I come from, but it’s really exciting because it will put Slovenia on the map,” she added.

Van Dam  however was not as upbeat and was clearly disappointed with her round after 3-putting her final hole for a par and felt she had let several opportunities slip on her back 9 this afternoon.

The highly regarded 22-year-old made 6 birdies on her opening nine to make the turn in 29, and another birdie at the 10th hole took her to -7 for the day.
Van Dam lipped out from 4 metres for birdie at the 11th hole and drove the green with her tee-shot on the 273-metre par 4 12th hole, only to take three putts from seven metres to settle for a par. 
At the par 5 18th hole Van Dam bomber her tee-shot over 265 metres from the tee leaving only a 7 iron into the green, however once again her putter deserted her and she three-putted from the front edge for a par and a round of 63. 

Van Dam came to Australia with some fine form behind her in 2018, winning on ESTRELLA DAMM LADIES OPEN and the ANDALUCIA OPEN DE ESPANA on the Ladies European Tour, and also gaining her full playing rights for 2019 on the US LPGA Tour.
The Dutchwoman has long been touted as a potential superstar of the women`s game, she is one of the longest hitters on tour and has a swing which is commonly referred to as the best in the women`s game.

The leading Australian heading into tomorrow`s final round is West Australian Hannah Green who is five shots back at -6 as she searches for her first win as a professional on home turf, while South Australian Tamie Durdin is sitting in a tie for 18th place at -3.

The only amateur to make the cut was Queensland`s Cassie Porter who is sitting in a tie for 29th place at -1. 

The 36-hole cut fell at +1 with 58 players making it through to tomorrow`s final round. Click HERE for final round tee-times.

Round 3 action will get underway on Sunday morning at 7:40 am, tickets can be purchased online HERE or at the gate.
Live scoring can be found online HERE

If you can`t make it out to Royal Canberra Golf Club for Sunday`s final round you can watch all of the action live-streamed through ALPG`s YouTube and Facebook pages.

Watch all highlights from round 2 HERE

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