| -18 L Vu (US); -17 L Ko (NZ); -16 E Pedesen (Den), A Ashok (Ind); -13 L Thompson (US) |
| Selected:-11 C Hull (Eng), G Hall (Eng); -8 C Gainer (Eng); -7 L Maguire (Ire), A Hewson (Eng); -4 C Williams (Wal); -2 G Dryburgh (Sco); +6 B Brewerton (Wal) |
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American Lilia Vu leads world number one Lydia Ko by one shot going into the final round of the Aramco Saudi Ladies International.
The 25-year-old shot a round of seven under par, finishing with a long eagle putt on the 18th for a 65 to move to 18 under for the tournament.
Ko shot a 66 with birdies at the fifth, seventh, eighth, ninth, 10th and 17th.
American Lexi Thompson moved into contention, equalling the course record with a 63 for a 13-under total.
Vu made a strong start at Royal Greens Golf and Country Club with a birdie at the fist but she dropped her only shot of the day on the second.
She recovered with back-to-back birdies on holes three, four and five and added further birdies on nine and 14 before finishing on a high.
“I find I play my best when I’m having fun, so I’m just going to try and do that tomorrow,” she said. “I had a lot of fun playing with Lydia [Ko] today. When you play with good players you tend to play better, and she just hits the ball so well.
“I was actually a little nervous coming here because it’s the start of my season and the first tournament of the year for me. I felt kind of rusty coming through and then once I started to trust myself, the game just got better on its own.”
The $5m (£4.16m) purse available at the event is the third-largest on offer on the Ladies European Tour.
It matches the prize money from the men’s PIF Saudi International on the Asian Tour, having enjoyed a five-fold increase.
