Defending champions, Korea, surge into the lead at WATC

Last year’s winners, Korea, shot up the leader board on Day 2 of the 2012 Women’s World Amateur Teams Championship in Turkey, finishing on 8-under-par. They maintained their lead after the third round with a 54-hole total of 11-under-par (421) at Gloria Golf Club. In the 2nd round, the Koreans posted the third lowest second round score in Espirito Santo Trophy history to give them a five-stroke lead over five countries tied at 3-under-par. However, after the 3rd round, New Zealand (426) snuck ahead of Canada and Australia (tied on 427) and are only 5 shots off the Koreans going into the final round. The USA had an outstanding 3rd round score of 7-under-par which has pushed them into 5th position with Spain.

All the South African players have steadily improved their performances, and the team score has improved by 6 shots each day. They finished the 3rd round in 37th position with a team score of +1 which gives a total of +21 over 54 holes.

Bertine Strauss has been the best of the South African’s in all 3 rounds and she signed for a level par round today. Whilst she only had 2 birdies, she played solidly, hitting her irons really well. Alana van Greuning has struggled each day with the first few holes. Today she had a new approach and conquered the first few holes. She turned level par after an excellent up and down on the 9th. KIim Williams’ managed to sort out her wayward driver today and her shots from inside 100m were immaculate. After yesterday’s round, Kim remarked that it had been a long time since she had made only two birdies in 36 consecutive holes of golf. Today, she picked up another 3, but there were certainly a number of missed opportunities.

The general complaint from many of the players was that they had missed a lot of putts and were misreading the greens. The South Africans are hoping that the putts will drop tomorrow to give them an exciting end to a very disappointing tournament.

Pictured above are the SA Team of Kim Williams, Bertine Strauss & Alana van Greuning with captain Sandra Winter (left) and national coach Val Holland (right).

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