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Laura Davies on course for successful defence in Norway

England’s Laura Davies gave herself a fighting chance of repeating her Norwegian triumph of 2002 by posting a four-under-par 68 in the second round of the SAS Masters at Oslo Golf Club.

Davies set the target with a 36-hole tally of seven-under 137 to finish two strokes clear of her nearest challenger, Sarah Kemp of Australia.

Kemp, a 20-year-old rookie on the Ladies European Tour, last played with Davies in an Australian pro-am tournament when she was aged 15 and at the time, Davies played poorly, deciding after nine holes to give the youngster her autographed driver.

Kemp could well be teeing up with Davies again in the final round after she carded a five-under-par 67 for a five-under total. Davies is looking for a record 67th win and 35th on the Ladies European Tour, while Kemp, who won three times on the Australian Ladies Professional Golf Tour at the beginning of the year, is aiming for her first in Europe.

After four second place finishes in Europe so far this summer, Davies, who is 22 years Kemp’s senior, admitted that the prospect of winning was not something she was willing to get carried away with.

“At the moment I’m in the position I want to be, right at the front, and with a very good chance tomorrow,” she said.

“I’m playing well. I’ve had four seconds this year and I need to go one better. This is a course I like and a course I’ve won on so we’ll see. You never predict a win because there are too many good players around for that.”

Davies has endured a two year and five month winning drought since she last triumphed at the 2004 Women’s Australian Open. Up until then, she had won at least once in every year of her career and should she secure the 30,000 euros on offer for a victory in Norway she would increase her lead in the New Star Money List.

She was the first to admit that her excellent second round was played in much better conditions than the first day’s play, where there were heavy rain showers throughout. The English woman played her second round in fine morning conditions.

“It was much, much easier putting today than it was yesterday because the greens were much dryer. I played very well. I had one stupid bogey on 13 where I hit what we thought was a good shot, came up short and didn’t get up and down, but other than that I was in good shape all the way round. I hit lots of fairways, had lots of birdie chances, some which were unbelievable.”

Davies carded five birdies and the solitary bogey in her second round, with two birdies on the front nine and three on the back nine.

Kemp had six birdies with three on the front nine and three and the back nine as well as one bogey at the fourth hole.

The New South Wales resident finished second in this year’s Catalonia Ladies Masters and third in the Ladies Open of Portugal, so like Davies is hoping to go one better.

On being in contention in the final round, she said: “I am excited – I wish it was now. I’ll go home now and have a rest and have some dinner and it will go really slow because I want it to go really fast. But I can’t wait for tomorrow. It will be heaps of fun.

“I’m very happy with the way I played today. I hit the ball kind of the same as yesterday but I just holed a lot more putts so it was nice out there and I had a great time.”

Virginie Lagoutte, the first round leader from France, had a 74 to sit on a total of three-under along with Ellen Smets of Belgium, who had a 69 and Australia’s Cherie Byrnes, who had a 72.