Scotland’s Kylie Henry chases second Tour title in Cape Town

Scotland’s Kylie Henry will be the front-runner in the final round of the Standard Bank Ladies Open at Royal Cape Golf Club, after she posted a three-under-par 71 on Thursday to stretch her lead to three shots ahead of the last day on Friday.

Henry is on eight-under-par overall after two rounds on the par-74, 5,738m Royal Cape layout.

She came from two strokes back to win the Dimension Data Ladies Pro-Am at Fancourt a month ago, but her previous European Tour victory came at the 2014 German Open when she led after the second and third rounds, with her three straight 64s giving her record tallies for 36 and 54 holes on that tour.

A pair of South Africans are once again Investec Order of Merit leader Henry’s closest challengers, but now it is Casandra Alexander and Gabrielle Venter, who both shot 69s on Thursday to move to five-under-par.

Shawnelle de Lange (71) and Lora Assad (72) were second and third after the first round, but De Lange shot 77 in the second round to slip back to level-par, and Assad made 78 to slide to two-over.

SuperSport Challenge winner Tvesa Malik is on four-under-par in a tie for fourth with France’s Emie Peronnin and Briton Florentyna Parker. They all shot three-under 71s on Thursday.

De Lange initially kept in contact with Henry, but then a seven on the par-five 16th and a bogey on the par-four 17th saw her fall away.

Henry battled to find her best game on the front nine, going out in level-par as she dropped shots on the first, seventh and eighth holes. But she also made back-to-back birdies on the third and fourth holes, and then again on nine and 10.

The two-time Ladies European Tour winner’s beautiful ball-striking then enabled her to birdie the par-five 14th and 16th holes, as well as the par-three 16th for her to pull a little clear of the chasing pack.