Women’s British Open: Pressel heads delayed third round

Morgan Pressel’s closing birdie finally brought the curtain down on a third round which had been hit by Saturday’s blow out.

The American had looked steadiness personified with two birdies in her first 14 holes but crooked appraoches to 15 and 16 gave her just her second and third bogeys of the week. At the 17th she was lucky not to find the Road Hole bunker but then capitalised at the last with a 20-footer for birdie.

“We were talking about whether to hit driver or 3 wood off the 18th tee and I thought I could get close to hitting the cart path with driver and I did. I ended up with a little tricky shot with that Valley of Sin but managed to make a birdie.

“I think we saw a lot of back and forth on the leaderboard and I’m sure more of the same will happen, I just want to hang tough and hit good shots.”

Pressel (-9) will go out in the penultimate group, alongside Suzann Pettersen who is two back, and she leads by one from compatriot Stacy Lewis.

Lewis’ effort was hit by a brace of bogeys at 16 and 17 but otherwise there had been five birdies beforehand.

Pressel (-9) will go out in the penultimate group, alongside Suzann Pettersen who is two back, and she leads by one from compatriot Stacy Lewis “Overall it was very good. The 17th is basically playing as a par 5 so I don’t feel like those two bogeys are going to hurt me too much at the end of the day.”

Alongside Pettersen on seven under are overnight leader Na Yeon Choi, Miki Saiki and Hee Young Park.

One shot further back is Scotland’s Catriona Matthew who at one stage was level par before three birdies and then a birdie-eagle finish, capped by pitching in at the last.