Lauren Walsh moved up to fourth in the Rookie of the Year standings when she finished a career-best fourth in the LET’s Jabra Ladies Open in France.
The Castlewarden star, who recently became the touring professional for KPMG Women’s Irish Open hosts Carton House, closed with a brace of one-under 70s to finish six shots behind Switzerland’s Morgane Metreaux at Evian Resort.
It was Walsh’s third top-ten of the season and her second in a row following her tie for fifth in last week’s German Masters.
Metreaux completed her weather-delayed second round on Saturday morning, carding a seven-under-par 64 to take a six-shot lead into the final round.
She made a shaky start and bogeyed three of her first four holes to see her lead cut to one stroke.
But she birdied the next three holes and closed with a one-over 72 to win by three shots from France’s Agathe Sauzon and Swiss compatriot Chiara Tamburlini on 10-under.
Walsh ended up three strokes further back in solo fourth on four-under but won €13,500 to move to 21st in the Order of Merit with winnings of €37,651.
On the DP World Tour, Spain’s Nacho Elvira will take a four-shot lead into the final round of the Soudal Open in Belgium.
The Spaniard started the week with back-to-back bogey-free rounds of 64 at Rinkven International Golf Club. And while his Saturday 67 included his first dropped shots of the week, he got to 18 under to take the joint largest 54-hole lead of the season into Sunday.
English duo Ross Fisher and Joe Dean, Frenchman Romain Langasque and Dane Niklas Nørgaard were the nearest challengers at 14 under.
Portmarnock’s Conor Purcell goes into the final round tied for 63rd on three under after carding a level par 71.
At the Danish Challenge, Norway’s Andreas Halvorsen shot a third consecutive six-under 66 to take a three-stroke lead over Icelander Gudmundur Kristjansson into the final round at Odense Eventyr Golf.
West Waterford’s Gary Hurley lies joint 69th on level par after a third-round 74.
Meanwhile, Darren Clarke leads the Irish challenge into the final round of the KitchenAid Senior PGA Championship in Michigan.
A level par 71 left the Dungannon man tied 25th on two-under, eight shots behind Greg Chalmers (66) and Ernie Els (69), who lead by a shot from Chris DiMarco (71) and Richard Bland (74) on 10-under at Harbor Shores.
Padraig Harrington shot 70 to move up to 29th on one-under, but Paul McGinley slipped to 69th on five-over after he made back-to-back triple bogey sevens at the 16th and 17th holes (the seventh and eighth) and shot 75.
