Ochoa 6 Ahead at Women’s British Open

By ROBERT MILLWARD

ST. ANDREWS, Scotland – Lorena Ochoa led by six strokes Saturday during the third round of the Women’s British Open by mastering the strong wind while her main rivals dropped shots.

Chasing her first win in a major after several near misses in 23 attempts, the top-ranked Mexican moved to 8 under after 12 holes on the Old Course at St. Andrews as Wendy Ward slipped to 2 under.

By that time, they were the only players under par as the wind reached 35 mph across the links and made low scoring difficult.

Ochoa sank a 30-foot birdie putt at the third and just missed an amazing 60-foot eagle at the fifth. The ball rolled up one slope and down another to creep past the rim of the cup and leave her a 1-foot birdie.

She also benefited from a two-shot swing at the 12th where she holed a 2-foot birdie putt and Ward missed a 7-foot putt for bogey.

Starting at 5 under, Ward had three bogeys on the outward nine and Annika Sorenstam, who has won 10 majors including the 2003 Women’s British Open at Royal Lytham, was 1 over after going out in 4-over 40.

Starting at 3 under, Karine Icher of France bogeyed the first two holes but made it to the turn having dropped only one shot. She was even par after 14 holes.

Catriona Matthew, starting at 5 under and getting huge support from her fellow Scots, played her second shot into the Swilcan Burn creek and bogeyed the first hole. She reached the turn at 1-under 40 and dropped two shots for 2 over after 13 holes.

Defending champion Sherri Steinhauer fared even worse.

The three-time champion also found the water at the first and, starting with two bogeys, she covered the first nine in 41 to slide from 3 under to 2 over.

While all the players either side of her were shooting high 70s or into the 80s in the relentless wind, Stacy Prammanasudh shot a 1-under 72. The American had three birdies and moved up from equal 52nd to 13th on the leaderboard at 3-over 222.

Lotta Wahlin of Sweden justified her decision to walk off the course in near darkness after 16 holes on Friday and continue her round just after dawn on Saturday. She birdied the 17th and finished at 5 under to just make the cut.

After a short break, she was back on the first tee playing with a marker and made a 5-over 78 for a 10-over 229.