March 15, 2014: India duo, Sharmila Nicollet and Neha Tripathi could not move into the weekend play at Lalla Meryem Cup. Only Indian on Ladies European Tour, Nicollet began well tied 16th on the opening day, however, she failed to retain her position after carding a disappointing four over 76 in the second round to miss the cut.
Meanwhile, Gwladys Nocera has taken a two stroke lead into the final round of the Lalla Meryem Cup after firing a six-under-par 65 in warm and sunny conditions at Golf de l’Ocean in Adadir on Saturday.
The 38-year-old Frenchwoman ended two clear of French compatriot Sophie Giquel-Bettan, with halfway leader Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand two strokes further back.
Nocera made a relatively slow start with two birdies and one bogey on the front nine, but she picked up the pace with five birdies on the back nine at holes 10, 11, 14, 16 and 18 to reach 11-under-par after three rounds.
“Today was not so good on the front nine. I struggled a little bit but I don’t know, I played two rounds with bad putting and managed to shoot a good score so I just thought, ‘keep going, they will drop,’ and I made a few more on the back nine,” Nocera said.
Giquel-Bettan, the Portugal Open champion in 2007, is in the hunt for her first LET title in seven years after a third-round 67 which included seven birdies and three bogeys.
The defending champion Jutanugarn, who took eight months out last year through injury, struggled with her irons and slipped down into third place after a one-over-par 72, but is still in contention just four strokes from the lead.
It’s a tightly jammed leader board with four players only five shots from the lead on six-under-par. They are Thailand’s Titiya Plucksataporn, English duo Holly Clyburn and Charley Hull and French amateur Mathilda Cappeliez, who is aged 15 and two weeks older than Lydia Ko when she won the 2013 ISPS HANDA New Zealand Women’s Open to become the youngest ever winner on the LET.
Hull, who held a one stroke lead going into the final round of the Lalla Meryem Cup 12 months ago, is chasing her first title while Clyburn is targeting her second win on the LET after the Del
