Rebecca Coakley, Martina Gillen and Tara Delaney of Team Ireland trailed the leader board at the Daishin Securities Tomato M Korea European Ladies Masters and well off the pace of five under par set by Melissa Reid of England and Korean Soo-Jin Yang.
Martina Gillen had the best round of the three Irish players on Saturday signing for a 74 – a 9 over par total - with Coakley finishing on 77 on 10 over par and Tara Delaney carding 80, to finish on sixteen over.
All three missed the cut at +5.
At the top of the leader board Melissa Reid went around Haevichi Country Club in 69 shots, in sunny weather, to move to five-under-par along the 19-year-old Soo-Jin Yang ahead of Sundays’ final round.
Reid took the lead with three birdies in her first four holes and moved two shots ahead of the field when she rolled in a 40 foot putt for birdie at the par-five ninth hole.
“I played quite well on the front nine and hit a few shots pretty close. Then the back nine was a little bit slow so I lost a bit of momentum,” explained Reid, who is suffering from a cold. “I think it’s because I’m not really expecting anything of myself because I’m not feeling the best.”
Reid has a chance to claim her second professional title in Korea on Sunday and added:
“I haven’t played great the last couple of weeks so I’m not really expecting anything but I did a great couple of days work coming into this event and I guess things have fallen into place. My swing wasn’t feeling right last week at all and I figured it out a bit too late. Me and my caddie Lee (Griffiths) just did a bit of work on that and short game early in the week.”
Yang’s start was also spectacular, with four birdies in her first six holes for a matching outward total of 32. However she picked up three more birdies and two bogeys for an inward half of 35 and was five-under for the day.
The Number two ranked player on the Korean Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) can take the No.1 spot on the Korean Money List with her third win of the season at the co-sanctioned event.
Meanwhile, the 2008 champion Hee-Kyung Seo shot 69 and lies in a tie for third place with Young-Ran Jo and Soo-Young Moon on three-under.
Eight players are a shot back in equal sixth place, including Paraguayan Julieta Granada who carded a second round 72 and Korean amateur Julie Yang, who had a 71.
The Netherlands’ Dewi-Claire Schreefel was the next best placed European in joint 14th place on one-under.
The European No.1 Lee-Anne Pace of South Africa, with five wins this season, stands in a group of eight players on three-over-par.
England’s Laura Davies, ranked second in Europe after four victories in 2010, added a 71 to her opening 78 to make the cut on the mark at five-over-par, attributing her poor opening round to the pace of play.
