Ana Peláez (-2) has left herself a slim chance of victory at the Magical Kenya Ladies Open after the third day. Slim because the leaders, Alessandra Fanali and Shannon Tan, both at -9, have a seven-stroke lead. Chance because the Malaga-born player is eighth and the third place is only two strokes away. Let’s say there’s a small opening to sneak through.
Ana’s round this Saturday at the Baobab course at Vipingo Ridge would deserve to be investigated under a microscope in a laboratory. What she has done is not often seen. It was a wild roller coaster ride, with a particular focus on the par 5s. Five are played on the African course and the Spaniard’s score was two eagles, two bogeys and a par. The Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde.
Those four very different par 5s were a faithful reflection of a round where she only signed nine pars. It is clear that Ana can go very low on this course. She must be counted on tomorrow. She is the only golfer in the tournament who has achieved two eagles in one day and already adds up to three in 54 holes. If she manages to minimize mistakes and squeeze out the good shots, as she did today with those two eagles and two more birdies, she could perfectly be in the fight to win. However, she necessarily has to remove the bogeys from the equation.
It is clear that at any moment the spark can fly in the round of the player from Río Real. Today she has shown it again. She started with stumbles, with two bogeys on holes 2 and 5, but reacted like a cyclone with a score of five under par in five holes, between 7 and 11. There she got fully into the fight by going four under par, just two strokes from the lead. However, it was a day to stretch and shrink, as it is known in cycling jargon. She made three bogeys between 13 and 16 and there it seemed to say goodbye to any chance of victory. But with Ana, you can never consider a round over until it’s over. A final great birdie on 17 put her in the top 10 and changed the outlook for tomorrow.
Obviously, logic dictates that the victory in Kenya should be resolved in a head-to-head between Fanali and Tan. Neither of the two has yet won on the Ladies European Tour, although there are nuances between them. The Italian is in her second season on the LET, is 24 years old and comfortably kept the card in 2023, although she did not have many chances of victory.
Meanwhile, Tan has quickly earned the right to wear the label of ‘Player to watch in 2024’. The golfer from Singapore is only 19 years old, turned professional just two months ago, after spending a year at the University of Texas Tech and has already shown that she knows how to win, even though she has played very little. Still as an amateur, she won the Singapore Ladies Masters in October, a professional tournament on the Chinese circuit, and at the beginning of this year, already as a pro, she has won again on the Australasia circuit. As if that were not enough, she got the LET card after finishing eighth in the School Final in Morocco in December. It was just after school and after talking to her coach when she decided to turn pro. Serious stuff. Tan is playing her first tournament on the Ladies European Tour as a professional and will come out as co-leader on Sunday.
In general, it has not been a good moving day for the Spanish golfers. Beyond Peláez, the third consecutive par round of María Hernández, who is two strokes away from the top ten, and the very good under par round of 70 strokes, the fourth best of the day, of Nuria Iturrioz (+3) to place herself in 23rd place tied with Luna Sobrón (+3). The rest, today was not their day: Marta Martín (+6), Teresa Toscano (+8), Marta Sanz (+8), Paz Marfá (+11) and Fátima Fernández Cano (+12).
