Williams turns on the aggro to take control at Mallorca Ladies Golf Open

Chloe Williams from Wales carded a second round of seven under-par 65 to take a one stroke lead into the final round of the inaugural Mallorca Ladies Golf Open on the Ladies European Tour (LET).

The 28 year-old from Wrexham, looking for her first win on the LET, made nine birdies and two bogeys at Golf Son Muntaner on Friday, moving ahead of Germany’s Alexandra Forsterling, who shot a five under-par 67.

First round leader and Dubai-based Kristyna Napoleaova carded a level par 72 and lies in third position.

Williams, now at nine-under-par for the tournament, said: “Today was fantastic. I didn’t do much different to yesterday. I played such solid golf yesterday but didn’t hole the putts. Today I had more patience and they dropped.”

The shot of the day was a three-quarter 7 iron shot which she hit to within three feet of the flag on the par 3 second.

The Wrexham AFC supporter, who sits in 33rd place on the Race to Costa del Sol, explained how a more aggressive strategy has turned her game around since late August.

“After the Scottish Open, I was outside the top 100 on the Order of Merit so I had to basically accept the fact that I would potentially be going back to Tour School if I didn’t turn my game around,” Williams said.

“My dad’s my coach so we reviewed the last couple of months and my game wasn’t horrendous. My strategy was too conservative at times so I’m playing a little bit more aggressively now and that’s worked.

“It’s given me the opportunity to make more birdies and it’s given me confidence from there, not only to feel that I belong but also to believe that I have the potential to win tournaments.”

Both Forsterling and Napoleaova have won LET titles this year, in the VP Bank Swiss Ladies Open and Amundi German Masters respectively.

Napoleova had to fight for her 72. She carded three birdies in her first eight holes but then gave three back with back-to-back double bogeys on the ninth and 10th, followed by a bogey on 11.

However, she recovered with birdies on 15 and 17.

On completing her round Kristyna said: “It was frustrating considering how I played the first couple of holes. Hopefully one day I’ll play boring golf.

“I had a good start and a couple of birdie chances which I missed, made three birdies, three-under through eight and then I made a mistake just from holding the club, I made a double. Another couple of bad holes.

ALSO READ

• This Week in Golf: Eyes of the world on Dubai for the season-ending DP World Tour Championship

M. Sanz Barrio (Spain) 71. 68. 139