Lee-Anne Pace played her way to a top-20 finish on Saturday in the Lacoste Ladies Open de France as she carded a one-over 72 for a tournament total of two-over-par for the 54-hole event.
She set off in pursuit of a good finish early in her final round with consecutive birdies on six and seven, but a bogey on 10 slowed her progress. She immediately regained that stroke with a birdie on 11, but three more bogeys – on 13, 15 and 17 hampered her efforts to finish higher up the leaderboard.
The performance saw her into 33rd position currently in the Race to Costa del Sol, the Ladies European Tour order of merit. Fellow South Africans Ashleigh Buhai in 18th and Monique Smit in 27th are ahead of her. Smit missed the cut in France, while Buhai is in action on the LPGA Tour in the United States.
The tournament was won by Sweden’s Julia Engstrom at seven-under-par, with Argentina’s fast-finishing Magdalena Simmermacher and Celine Herbin of France sharing second one stroke back.
