Mark Officer Golf

 The final round of the Australian Ladies Masters is to be played today with Australian Katherine Hull leading the field by three after birdying her final two holes yesterday. She leads fellow Queenslander Tamie Durdin after a six birdie 68 yesterday and has placed herself perfectly to win after runner up finishes in the NSW and New Zealand Opens. Hull is confident she has what it takes to win the tournament tomorrow. “I believe I can win but there are 18 holes out there that still need to be played and there are some great names on the leader board. I will go out there tomorrow and stay focused on my game and hopefully it is enough in the end.” After a poor start to her 2008 LPGA campaign, Hull took her game to the next level in the second half of the year with a victory at the Canadian Women’s Open in August and she eventually closed the season with prize money totaling over one million dollars.  Durdin, who is a regular on the JLPGA Tour alongside Nikki Campbell, proved to be the surprise packet of the day after firing seven birdies to move from equal 20th overnight in to outright second on nine under despite bogeying the 17th hole. Durdin will be keen to make amends after leading in to the final round of the ANZ Ladies Masters last year before falling away with a final round 76 to finish in equal 23rd. American Mollie Fankhauser quietly played her way in to contention today with a 4 under 68 taking her in to outright 3rd at -8 and just four off the lead. After turning pro in 2004, the 29-year-old Fankhauser enjoyed limited success on the Futures Tour before graduating to the LPGA Tour in 2007, where here best finish came at the Longs Drugs Challenge in October of 2008 with a T11. With seven players within six shots of the lead, a tournament win is not out the question for those trailing Hull, however the determined 26-year-old will not want to let a third tournament in a row slip from her grasp. Hull is perhaps the biggest improver in women’s golf in the past two years and a win in this tournament will give her further confidence that she can continue her climb up the women’s rankings. She is currently ranked 26 and a win at Royal Pines would move her into the top 20.

Position	Score	Player		R1	R2	R3	R4	Total
1	-12	Katherine Hull		69	67	68	-	204
2	-9	Tamie Durdin		70	71	66	-	207
3	-8	Mollie Fankhauser		70	70	68	-	208
T4	-6	So-yeon Ryu		71	68	71	-	210
T4	-6	Becky Brewerton		67	73	70	-	210

 

Tee-ing off on the 15th

 

 

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