The Douglas dynamo (23) raced into the lead on Blue Course at Royal Golf Dar Es Salam, and while bogeys at the last two holes left her tied for second with Spain’s Nuria Iturrioz and Germany’s Helen Briem, she’s just one stroke behind Singapore’s Shannon Tan, who shot 69 to lead on seven-under par.
“It would be a dream to win tomorrow, something that every girl can dream of winning after watching it growing up,” said Byrne, who had a comfortable draw for the first two days alongside Olivia Mehaffey and England’s Megan Dennis.
“Obviously, I can’t get too far ahead of myself, but it would mean the world to anybody out here [to win].”
Caddie Mark Raven, who worked for Lottie Woad when Byrne helped Great Britain and Ireland win the Curtis Cup last summer, has been a calming influence, and the Cork star hopes to reproduce the stunning form she showed at Sunningdale.
“It’s been a good day, it’s always great being in contention coming into the final day, especially as a rookie,” she said. “I honestly just played really solid today, putted well, and it’s always a nice day when you have seven birdies on the card.
“I’ve just been loving the week. I missed competing over the break a little bit, so having this as the first event with the senior tour as well is pretty cool.”
All five Irish women made the cut, with Lauren Walsh tied 21st on two-under after a 69, Anna Foster and Mehaffey 44th on two-over after respective rounds of 78 and 73, and Annabel Wilson 53rd on three-over after a 74.
In the concurrent Trophy Hassan II on the PGA Tour Champions, Pádraig Harrington bogeyed the 16th and 18th on the Red Course and carded a one-over 74 to go into the final round seven shots behind co-leaders Miguel Angel Jimenez and Steven Alker, tied for 24th on level-par.
At the Commercial Bank Qatar Masters, Conor Purcell shot a level-par 72 to make the one-under-par cut on the mark, but he’s nine shots behind England’s Brandon Robinson-Thompson, whose 68 gave him a two-shot lead over Korea’s MK Kim and China’s Hoatong Li and Wenyi Ding, who all shot 67s.
On the HotelPlanner Tour, Liam Nolan’s magical run of form ended when he shot a three-over 75 to miss the two-under cut by two shots in the Cell C Cape Town Open, where Jonathan Caldwell made it on the mark after a 70. Dermot McElroy shot 70 and Max Kennedy a 71 to miss out on four- and five-over, respectively.
Meanwhile, host Tiger Woods will make his first appearance since The Open last year in next week’s Genesis Invitational at Torrey Pines.
Qatar Masters, 9.30am WM Phoenix Open, 4pm (Both live on Sky Sports)
