Notable absences from the final two days were 1998 Champion Sherri Steinhauer and US Open Champion Hilary Lunke. Amateur Alex Keighley also failed to make the cut with a second round of 79 giving her a total of 149. This left Spanish amateur Elisa Serramia the only non professional in the event.

Playing with Kasumi Fujii she completed her third round on 221 with a 74. After completing her round she said how this was her first professional tournament and that she was enjoying the experience.

Early morning play was proving to be difficult with a number of players experiencing problems in judging the speed of the greens and anyone landing in bunkers around the 6th green especially were lucky to find a shot directly to the green. One player who managed to find the green from the bunker was Laura Davies and when asked by playing partner, Solheim Cup Captain, Catrine Nilsmark, how she did that she responded with I don t know and a shrug of the shoulders, much to the amusement of the large crowd that was following them.

Laura improved on her overnight position with a 2 under par 70.

American veteran Beth Daniel enjoyed a good round recording a 67 leaving her on 212 for the championship. Beth is already assured her place in the Solheim Cup after her recent win on the American tour last week in the Canadian Open. She started her round with a birdie 2 at the short first hole with her 4 iron tee shot finishing 15 foot from the pin. In fact she recorded 2 s at three of the four par 3 holes.

Speaking after her round she commented that on Thursday she had had 35 putts whereas today only 29 and that was the difference. Asked if her win in Canada had sparked her enthusiasm she replied that she had had a very good year so far with a lot of close finishes and finally managed to come through in Canada.

The make up of the US team to play at Barsebach Golf & Country club, Malmo Sweden, in September may be dramatically altered this weekend. Kelly Robbins on +4 at the end of the 3rd round effectively puts her out of any points, this is also the case for Pat Hurst on +2. Strong showings by Kelly Keahne, Heather Bowie and Wendy Ward will put them into contention. Captain Patty Sheehan, past winner of the British Open in 1992 at Woburn, will announce the final team on 24th August after the Wachovia LPGA Classic.

They say that Saturday is moving day and French star Patricia Meunier-Lebouc did just that. Starting on 5 under par for the tournament she commenced her round with 2 birdies followed by a bogey at the difficult 3rd which is 410 yards and an accurate tee shot is required in order to avoid the numerous bunkers on left of fairway and railway line on right. She then proceeded to birdie the next two holes, the fourth being a right to left dogleg of 357 yards and the fifth a170 yard par 3 with an undulating green which is well protected by six bunkers.

On the par 5 474 yard 6th she achieved an eagle which took her to 10 under and the lead of the championship. After the par 5 7th she was still awaiting her first par of the day after recording a bogey 6. Regulation score was finally achieved on the 389 yard par 4 8th.

Lebouc then parred at short 144 yard 9th to completed her front nine in 31, 4 under par and in second place on 9 under!

What a difference on the back nine where pars were the order of the day until the 17th when she finally secured another birdie with a long 30 foot putt. Equalling Beth Daniel s low score of the day, a 67, leaves her in the lead on 10 under par.

The big difference today was that I holed putts was her comment after her round.

Welsh professional Becky Morgan found birdies difficult to come by on the front nine but eventually found her range with a birdie on the picturesque 324 yard par 4 13th which although is a difficult driving hole as long as bunkers are negotiated can produce birdies before commencing on the difficult home stretch.

However she finished the day on 3 under par after having another bogey free round of 71.

Past champions in the field had mixed fortunes with Se Ri Pak making steady progress with birdies at 2nd, 6th and 9th holes in the front nine. She then birdied the par 5 11th and par 4 13th before dropping a shot on the 14th. A birdie on the difficult 16th restored her lead at 11 under par only to drop a further shots on 17th & 18th to finish on 9 under.

Se Ri is the only player to have recorded three score in the 60 s for the tournament having recorded 69 s each day. Karrie Webb had just three birdies and one bogey finishing on seven under for the day. Sophie Gustafson finished one under for the day and is 3 under going into the last day. Emilee Klein finished on level par. Helen Alfredsson made the cut on plus one but failed to break par today. Alison Nicholas was out in the early morning playing alongside Kirsty Taylor and both struggled to find birdies needed to improve their positions and both finished on 6 over par.

Johanna Head completed her round one under for the day moving her to 2 over for the championship whilst American based Suzanne Strudwick also failed to make an impression or improve her position In the meantime Karen Stupples and Georgina Simpson finished on 3 under and par respectively made up the remaining contenders from Britain.

Unfortunately Karen is not eligible for the Solheim Cup as she is not a member of the European Tour and when asked about this she said up to now she did not feel her game was in the right place but it was something she would have to think about next year in order to be considered in two years time.

World number one Annika Sorenstam maintained her challenge in her attempt to win her first British open. She recorded one eagle and two birdies in her round of 68. After play Annika said she was pleased with how she played today and wanted to keep going because she felt she was hitting the ball better.

Overnight leader Heather Bowie suffered a set back on the 11th after loosing a ball and recording a double bogey finishing on 6 under. Yesterdays low scorer, Lorena Ochoa also had a major setback when she received a two shot penalty after being struck by her ball when attempting a bunker shot on the par 3 12th. She finished on level par for the tournament. Wendy Ward maintained her good play with a steady round of 69 to finish on 9 under.

The final day appears to be leading up to an exciting finish with so many international stars on top of the leaderboard. With the weather predicted to be just the same as today and barrage of birdies should be expected. With so many of the leading players in the world making their challenge it is no wonder that the Weetabix British is becoming a most valued prize.