Rebecca Coakley of Team Ireland signed for a two under par round at the Suzhou Taihu Ladies Open in China on Saturday to finish on 5 under – in third place outright – to stay two shots off the leader Dewi-Claire Schreefel of the Netherlands who finished day two with a four under par round of 68.
Christel Boeljon, finished with a 70 - to retain second place - and so the all-Dutch pairing goes into the final round at Suzhou Taihu International Golf Club on Sunday along with Rebecca Coakley – who is also still very much in the chase.
For the Dutch girls it will be a friendly get together of sorts as they know each other from their amateur days and both played college golf in the United States together. However there will be some serious rivalry also with both chasing their maiden victory on the Ladies European Tour – with Schreefel in her Rookie season.
Schreefel has never been in contention before at a Ladies European Tour event, although she did lead after the first round of the 2004 KLM Ladies Open in the Netherlands as an 18-year-old amateur.
She won her first event as a professional at the ING New England Golf Classic last year on the US Duramed Futures Tour, where she has competed in 17 events so far this season. Her aim this week was to secure her Ladies European Tour card for 2011, as after five starts, she sits in 110th position on the Henderson Money List and she wants to be in the top 80.
Boeljon, who is in her second year, has finished in the top six times this year and on two occasions – in Turkey and Wales – had to settle for second place.
Boeljon said: “We know each other well and we are good friends. If we play together in the last group it will be fun.”
“Dewi is a really good player and she’s been over in the States so no-one really knows her yet. She’s great player and a great person. We’ve played a lot of amateur golf together and we both went to college at the same time so I’ve seen her around a lot.”
Scotland’s Vikki Laing was in the clubhouse on four-under, while first round leader Frances Bondad of Australia carded a three-over 75 and slipped back to two-under-par.
For the rest of the Team Ireland players though the news was not so good with all three missing the cut.
Martina Gillen carded a round of 77 to finish 7 over par after 5 bogeys and two birdies on the card and missing the cut by two shots.
Hazel Kavanagh signed for a second consecutive round of 77 to end the tournament on 10 over par.
Tara Delaney opened with a double bogey and finished the day 12 over par after a round of 77 – on the foot of an opening day 78.
Dewi-Claire Schreefel, Christel Boeljon and Rebecca Coakley tee off at 11:15 hrs local time in Suzhou on Sunday near Shanghai.
