Denmark’s Larsen joins Rookie race

Dubai — There’s a three-way fight for the Rookie of the Year crown on the Ladies European Tour after unheralded Dane Nicole Broch Larsen muscled into a one-time two-horse race on Friday. Broch Larsen finished the third day of the Omega Dubai Ladies Masters tied for sixth place on nine-under par following a bogey-free round that included six birdies overall.

She is now just three shots and four positions off a required runners-up finish as things stand to potentially pip Wales’ Amy Boulden and Sally Watson, of Scotland, to the much-coveted accolade. “It’s the first time I hit 18 greens and then I had six putts in and the rest were two putts,” Broch Larsen explained.

“It was really nice. I just enjoyed it with my caddy Cecily from the Danish national team. It was fun.

“I just enjoyed being on the course and had fun out there. It worked, so I’ll try to do the same tomorrow (Saturday). I didn’t manage to play as well as I wanted to on the other two days, but today (Friday) was really good. If I play well tomorrow (Saturday), I maybe have a chance to reach them. That’s my goal for tomorrow. I think I’ll need them to play badly tomorrow and I don’t hope that they do. I’ll just play my game and we’ll see where it takes me.

“It would mean a lot to me to win the Rookie of the Year. It would be amazing.” Boulden – who is the current front-runner in the race – is 18 positions behind Broch Larsen with a share of 24^th on three-under, having shot a three-under par 69 with six birdies and three bogeys.

“I actually played the front nine well,” Boulden said. “I just hit a bad shot into seven, so I dropped a shot there, and then I three-putted on nine. But, I managed to get those putts back on the back nine, so I’m not too disappointed. I’m now looking forward to tomorrow. I want to go out there, try and enjoy it and post my lowest score of the week.”

Boulden may need to do exactly that as well considering the resurgent form of both Broch Larsen and Watson, who registered a four-under par 68 with five birdies and a bogey to be tied 29^th on two under. “The goal today was to get to two-under for the tournament, so it was nice to be able to achieve that,” the Scot, 23, commented.

“The game just feels in good shape, so hopefully I can keep it going for tomorrow and continue to give myself chances. I’ve just got to keep focusing on myself. I’ve simply got to set myself another goal tomorrow and focus on that as that’s pretty much all I can do.

“I’m going to go out there tomorrow and give it all I’ve got and obviously I’m hoping it’s enough. It would be nice to finish the season off on a high.”alex@khaleejtimes.com