Lewis Two Up with One Round to Go in Dubai


Stacy Lewis has forged a two-stroke lead heading into the final round of the Omega Dubai Ladies Masters. The season-ending event on the Ladies European Tour schedule is taking place at Emirates Golf Club.

Lewis has posted rounds of 70, 65 and 70 to reach 11-under 205, two shots ahead of Thailand's Pornanong Phatlum, who carded a 69 in Friday's third round. Five behind are Diana Luna (69), Vikki Laing (69) and Carlota Giganda (73).

Tied for sixth at 211 are two Swedes, Louise Larsson (68) and Pernilla Lindberg (75).

Lewis, a three-time winner in 2013 and the No. 3-ranked player in the world, carded three bogeys and bogey Friday. Lewis admitted later that she wasn't quite as spot-on as she was in the second round when she went 7-under par.

"It's always hard to follow up a day like I had yesterday, especially on the greens," Lewis said. "It was a day that could have been worse and could have been better, but overall I'm right where I need to be going into [Saturday].

"That's golf. Just when you think you've got it figured out, it's something else," added Lewis. "I just didn't hit it quite as close and didn't have as many opportunities at birdies, but I still hit a ton of greens and if I can just get a couple of birdies to fall early tomorrow, then I think I'll be in a good place."

The 28-year-old American said she's wary of the players trailing her on the leaderboard. "Pornanong and I played together for the first two days and she played so solidly. She's just kind of sneaky and steady, so she's definitely somebody to look out for, and Carlota hits it so far that she can take advantage of the par-5s, so I would look to those two."

The shot of the day was made by South Africa's Connie Chen, who had a hole-in-one on the 160-yard 15th hole. In addition to helping her card a 2-under 70, Chen won a Mercedes Benz E400 convertible.

For all the scores, visit http://www.letscoring.com/leaderboard/64082.