Rosie Davies produced a late birdie burst to stay within a shot of the halfway lead at the Ladies European Tour’s Investec South African Women’s Open.
Davies birdied each of her last three holes to salvage a second-round 71 in tough conditions at Erinvale Country & Golf Estate, moving her to seven under and keeping her in touch with midway pacesetter Manon De Roey.
The overnight co-leader started on the back nine and opened with seven straight pars, before seeing a long-range birdie at the par-four 17th cancelled out by a bogey at the par-three second.
- Investec South African Women’s Open leaderboard [external site]
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Davies lost ground with a double-bogey at the par-four sixth, but finished birdie-birdie-birdie to ensure she would be out in the final group on Saturday.
“Starting on the back nine when the wind was at its peak was tough, I kept my head down, kept focusing on the next shot,” Davies said. “I really worked hard with my caddie Alex. I feel like I stole one on 17, I rolled in a long one there which gave me a bit of momentum heading onto my back nine.
“It was an exhausting day, that has given me a bit of energy to finish. You can’t ask for more than to finish with three birdies and I’m excited for the weekend now.”
De Roey topped the leaderboard after mixing eight birdies with three bogey in a brilliant five-under 67, the lowest round of the day, while Sweden’s Lisa Pettersson, New Zealand’s Momoka Kobori, and England’s Annabell Fuller are three strokes back in a share of third.
English duo Hannah Burke and Ellie Givens are in the group tied-fifth that also contains Morocco’s Ines Laklalech, and Norway’s Julie Boysen Hillestad, with Gabriella Cowley and Liz Young five strokes back and inside the top-10.
Watch the Investec South African Women’s Open throughout the weekend live on Sky Sports. Live coverage continues on Saturday from midday on Sky Sports Golf.
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