Dec 20, 2016: Céline Boutier from Paris continued her stellar play on Tuesday with a fourth round of two-under-par 70 in fine weather at Samanah Country Club in Marrakech to build a four stroke lead at the Final Stage of Lalla Aicha Tour School. Amandeep Drall shot an even 72 to stay in T4, six strokes behind the leader. Vani Kapoor jumped up seven spots to T10 with a brilliant 67 in the fourth round.
Saaniya Sharma and Neha Tripathi are both in T33, after making 70 and 76 respectively. Sharmila Nicollet shot an even 72 to end the penultimate day in T43. Gaurika Bishnoi and Anisha Padukone slipped down the sieve, but will have gained valuable experience for another run next season.
At 17-under-par 271 with one round to play, Boutier is four clear of Australian teenager Celina Yuan, who carded 68 and 72 on the Samanah course respectively to get to 13-under.
Valdis Jonsdottir of Iceland had a 65, which tied for the low round of the day with England’s Lauren Taylor, to share fourth place with Agathe Sauzon from France and Amandeep Drall from India, who played at Amelkis Golf Club.
“It’s pretty impressive! I feel really happy because it’s such a long tournament that I’m pleased I was able to keep up the good play so far. Hopefully I can play as well again tomorrow; it would be pretty cool,” said Boutier, who had two birdies at the fourth and fifth on the front nine before coming home in level par.
“I really like the courses, so it helps. They are very interesting to play. I also like the speed of the greens and I can read them pretty well so I’ve been putting well all week. Tomorrow I think I’m going to try to make more birdies and I’m going to focus on the speed on my longer putts but overall my strategy will be the same. I expect there will be tougher pin positions so I’ll have to be smart but aggressive when I can.”
Yuan made three birdies in a row from the third hole and bogeyed 11, but recovered with a birdie on the 12th while Sagstrom found her groove with four birdies in her round, including a pair on the 16th and 17th. She said: “I’m happy with the way it’s going because my game is getting better and better. I’ve been working hard on the putting green and on the range this week and finally some putts are starting to drop so I’m excited.”
Looking ahead to the final round, the 2016 Symetra Tour Ranking winner continued: “I’ll just go out there and hit it as close as I can and try to make some putts and have a good time with my brother. It’s the last time I’ll see him on a golf course for a while so we’ll go out and have some fun. Everybody is here to win but if I put too much pressure on myself I won’t play well. I’ll do my best, but of course everybody wants to win.”
The 72-hole cut was made at four-over, 292 and 66 players will tee it up on Wednesday in the final-round at Samanah Country Club. Players that finish in the top 30 and ties will earn Ladies European Tour membership in category 8 while those that finish 31-60 (including ties) will earn membership in category 9b.
Edited from Ladies European Tour Report
