For the second time in three weeks, Lorna Mcclymont leads an LET Access Series (LETAS) event heading into the final round.
The Scotswoman, 26, fired a bogey-free 65 to improve to nine-under-par at the Super Bock Ladies Open on a day when most of the 84-strong field struggled with strong winds and tough pin positions.
Mcclymont, who opened on Tuesday with a two-under-par 70, has a commanding three stroke lead over Switzerland’s Tiffany Arafi (69).
The quartet of Norway’s Silje Torvund Ohma (71), England’s Billie-Jo Smith (75), South Korea’s Ayeon Yang (71) and Sweden’s Johanna Sjursen (66) trail by another shot at five-under-par overall.
“I feel like the key has been just trying to hit as many fairways as I can and then the greens too,” Mcclymont said. “The course is in really good condition, the greens are really good.
“I was just trying to keep it simple. I struggled a little bit yesterday with the pace of the greens, so I think today was a little bit better.
“I gave myself the opportunities, hit a few close (to the pin) and holed a few putts as well. I just took advantage of the good shots.”
Starting from the 10th tee, Mcclymont birdied the par-4 11th before rolling in three consecutive birdies from holes 15 to 17 to make the turn six-under-par.
She picked up where she left of on her back nine, hitting two superb approach shots inside 10 feet to birdie holes 1 and 2 and added another birdie at the par-5 4th to finish on nine-under-par.
“I think when it got a little bit windy today it was definitely harder to control the ball,” she said, “When the greens are a little bit softer, you have to control the spin. There’s not much to gain just shooting straight at the flag.
“You almost have to hit the bigger club and just take a little bit off it and just really control the shots, which I feel like I did quite well today.
“Having played on links courses where it’s windy, I think it kind of tests me a little bit and it makes me hit different shots which I prefer.
“I’ve been playing well recently, and I’ve just been trying to trust my game as much as I can, trust my swing. When you’re playing well, you just have to go with it as much as you can and just take confidence from it.”
The Dumbarton-native has been in stellar form in recent weeks, recording four straight Top 15 finishes in her past four events. She has only missed the cut once across her 11 LETAS tournaments played this season.
But Mcclymont is still searching for her first professional title, having come agonisingly close at the October 8-10 Terre Blanche Ladies Open.
Entering the final round as the co-leader, Mcclymont extended her advantage to two shots with just the closing par-5 18th hole to play.
But after finding trouble with her approach shot into the green, she took a penalty drop and ended up making quadruple bogey to hand the trophy to Germany’s Theresa De Bochdanovits.
“I think it was a tough one to swallow in France, “ she said. “But like I said, I think I’ll learn more from that. I put a little Instagram Story on just saying that I fell off my bike, but that’s kind of what happened, and you just have to get back on it and keep going.
“I think I will just stick to my own game plan, and what anyone else does is what anyone else does. You can’t control what they do. So I think I just have to try and control what I can control.
“I will just be trying to focus on hitting fairways and hitting greens. Winning my first tournament would be amazing, but there’s still one more round to go and I’m just happy to be in contention again.”
Mcclymont turned professional in January 2025 after securing Category 16 status to play on the Ladies European Tour at Q-School in 2024.
But she did not retain her LET card for 2026 and is now playing her first full season on the LETAS.
The Scotswoman is currently ranked 30th in the LETAS Order of Merit (OOM) having accumulated 549.22 points across 10 events.
With a win in Portugal, Mcclymont could rise as high as 8th place in the OOM and just one spot behind the seven LET cards up for grabs with two events to play.
Unlike in Terre Blanche, she will have the support of her boyfriend Jack caddying for her.
“It’s nice to have him on the bag,” Mcclymont added. “I think it just gives me that little bit of a distraction in between shots and also just talking through shots as well which then lets me commit more to the shots too.
“He’s caddied for me a few times and we’ve had some good results as well. I’ll just go out and have some fun tomorrow.”
Further down the leaderboard, England’s Ellie Gower (71) sits in solo seventh place on three-under-par.
Rounding out the Top 10 at two-under-par come the trio of Sweden’s Emelie Borggren (69), England’s Bel Wardle (73) and Jessica Hall (75).
Another shot back are South Korea’s Yunjin Jang (71), Spain’s Constanza Guerrero (71) and Denmark’s Sarah Skovgaard Bils (72).
Pitch 15 Open champion Hannah Reeves (72) leads the pack tied-14th at even-par alongside Finland’s Katri Bakker (72), Switzerland’s Romaine Masserey (72), Ireland’s Canice Screene (76) and Germany’s Lisa Marie Schumacher (75).
Portugal’s Sofia Barroso Sa (76), who finished on three-over-par overall in tied-35th, mixed two birdies with four bogeys and a double bogey. She was the only local player to make the cut.
The cutline was set at four-over-par with 49 players making the cut; including OOM Top 7 contenders Ireland’s Beth Coulter (+2), Slovakia’s Michaela Vavrova (+2), Denmark’s Cecilie Leth-Nissen (+2), Switzerland’s Natalie Armbruester (+3), Sweden’s Elsa Svensson (+4) and Iceland’s Hulda Gestsdottir (+4).
Portugal’s Sara Gouveia (+8), Francisca Ferreira da Costa (+9) and Laura Santos (+11) all missed the cut.
The Super Bock Ladies Open final round will resume at 9.00am (local time) with the final flight of Mcclymont, Arafi and Torvund Ohma teeing off at 10.20am.
The winner will earn a cheque of €8,000 and 500 points towards the LETAS OOM standings.
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