Bowie & Teske top leaderboard

Saturday is traditionally ‘moving day' at a golf tournament and during the third round of the £1.05million Weetabix Women's British Open the packed galleries at Sunningdale witnessed a plethora of birdies and eagle along with an historical score of 62 after a glut of low scoring on a steaming hot summers day in Berkshire threw the championship wide open for Sunday's final round.

England's Karen Stupples remains well in contention for her first major championship victory after posting a two under par 70 to reach 11-under par. But the 31-year-old from Deal in Kent will begin the final day one shot adrift of leaders Rachel Teske from Australia and Heather Bowie from the USA.

Bowie began the day four shots behind Stupples, who held the halfway lead and rattled off a seven under par 65, which included eight birdies, an eagle at the opening hole and two bogies.

Teske, also four behind at the start of the day, produced a faultless 65 which included five birdies and an eagle two at the par four ninth hole, where she dispatched her putt from 15-feet.

In third place alongside Stupples is American Solheim Cup player Christie Kerr, who showed sparkling form with a nine under par 63 and moved up from a tie for 21 st place.

Spain's Paula Marti, who on Friday posted a six under 66 late in the afternoon, added a 68 to take sixth place on nine under, one behind fellow Latina Lorena Ochoa from Mexico.

But the biggest move of the day belonged to Finland's Minea Blomqvist, who only just made the cut on the two over par mark after a 78 in round two left her wondering whether her championship was over.

But the 19-year-old from Helsinki positively bludgeoned the course into submission with her putter, which appeared to be incandescent en route to a ten under par 62, breaking the existing course record of Karrie Webb by a shot as the Finn etched her name into the history books with the lowest ever score in a Women's major championship.

More to the point, Blomqvist went from the probability of finishing at the wrong end of the leaderboard to having a chance to become the youngest major champion in women's golf.

Blomqvist score, her second 62 in just three weeks, which she compiled in the opening round of the OTP Bank Central European Open in Hungary, her maiden LET victory, lifted her into a share of seventh place on eight under par alongside England's Laura Davies and Korea's Seol-An Jeon.

Two eagles and six birdies, including an incredible 60-foot putt from the fringe of the 18 th green, sent shockwaves around the course and even made Stupples, the leader at the time, take note.

“You know, yesterday I was happy to make the cut to go on in the tournament,” beamed the blonde-haired, blue-eyed teenager, who will play her golfing idol, world number one Annika S ö renstam, in a Skins match on Monday in Finland.

“It always helps when you start better and when I made eagle at the first hole, I had a feeling today that everything is going good and that's an easy feeling to take on the course.”

The stark difference between Blomqvist's two rounds was her putting. 40 putts on Friday, 24 on Saturday, which helps explain the 16 shot swing in two days.

“Yesterday, I couldn't concentrate on my golf and today was totally different, so I really enjoyed it,” she added.

But the home galleries will be cheering on Stupples on Sunday as she aims to become the first British winner of this event since 1991. Stupples conceded it was not the best of days for her and that she was expecting someone to make a huge move up the leaderboard and thanked the fact she had a three shot cushion at the start of the day.

“I knew people would come out today and shoot good scores and they did, especially Minea shooting 10 under,” said Stupples.

“That showed that the course was just out there for the taking today. But I'm still only one shot off the lead, so I'm in there and I'm delighted to have a good chance tomorrow.

“It would be nice to get off to a good start tomorrow and put some pressure on the leaders, especially with the par fives to kick us off. The leaders will be nervous, because you've got to be, otherwise you're not human, so no doubt, I'll be nervous, too, but I do need to get off to a good start.”

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