Like a juggernaut that refuses to slow down, China’s Shanshan Feng continued to roll towards an impressive second Dubai Ladies Masters victory.
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– Feng Shanshan leads Dubai Ladies Masters by five shots
Neither her mystery illness on the opening day nor the concerted and determined efforts of her rivals has made any impression on the world No5 as she increased her lead to five shots over her closest rival with another brilliant round of six-under par 66.
Can anyone catch Feng today? Or will she break her record from 2 years ago of -21? @EmiratesGC @OmegaDLM #ominous
— UAE Golf Online (@UAEGolfGuide) December 13, 2014
Feng is now 17-under par for the tournament, and she is just four shots shy of her own tournament winning record of 21-under par.
England’s Melissa Reid, who has struggled with her game since her last win in 2012, showed she is back to her best after producing a sparkling round of seven-under par 65. That propelled her to solo second place at 12-under par.
There were three players tied for third place at 10-under par, including Charley Hull, the reigning Order of Merit leader. The 18-year-old needs to stay in front of France’s Gwladys Nocera this week to make sure she is crowned European No1 just a year after she won the Rookie of the Year honour.
Hull was going great guns and mounting a charge on Feng, before a disastrous stretch of bogey-triple bogey on the 11th and 12th took the wind out of her sails. But she did come back well from that and made three birdies over the last six holes for a round of three-under par 69.
The other two players tied alongside Hull were world No12 Anna Nordqvist (68) and 2012 European No1 Carlota Ciganda (66).
While Hull may trail Feng by seven shots, she is three ahead of Nocera (71).
After starting with a birdie, Feng then hit a stunning second shot on the par-5 third to tap-in distance to make an eagle. Within the space of three holes, she had increased her lead to seven shots.
However, she leaked her tee shot left on the par-3 fourth and the ball rolled into the water hazard. She got away lightly with just a bogey there following a very good up-and-down.
It was flawless golf after that from the 2012 champion, and she said: “I think I did pretty well. I started very well but I think Charley definitely gave me a lot of pressure for the first 10 holes.
“And then, it was kind of like a very big switch in the next two holes, because I made two‑under and she was actually four-over for those two holes. There was a little more pressure off after that and I played well in the back, too.”
The 27-year-old Reid was delighted to show glimpses of her old form which helped her win four LET titles early in her career.
“Yeah, it’s been a long time coming,” she said. “I worked a week with my coach, Kevin Craggs, at Saadiyat Beach before the tournament, and I think we just found kind of the missing ingredient. So it was nice to put it into play.
“I played really well yesterday. I think I missed three greens yesterday and then today I think I missed one. So I’m hitting it well. I’m just trying to keep it simple and get the noise out of my head. It’s working.”
However, Reid admitted it would be difficult to catch the rampant Feng.
“She’s playing great. You can’t take that away from her. She’s going to be very difficult to catch tomorrow. If I keep playing the way I am, then I’m going to try to put as much pressure on her as possible without giving away too much,” Reid added.
The other battle in the tournament, that for the Rookie of the Year, took an interesting turn yesterday and became a three-woman race after Denmark’s Nicole Broch Larsen surged into contention with a round of 66 that tied her for sixth place at 207.
Third in the race for rookie honour behind Amy Boulden (69) and Sally Watson (68), Broch Larsen could overtake them both if she
finished second on her own.
