Annika Sorenstam leads for the third consecutive day

(Emirates GC, Dubai – Saturday 28th October 2006) – Having widened the gulf between herself and Karrie Webb, Annika Sorenstam was on course to run away with the Dubai Ladies Masters after a third impressive round on the Majlis course at Emirates Golf Club.

The World number one, who led by five strokes over Australia’s Webb overnight, fired a second successive 68 on Saturday to pull seven strokes clear of Webb, her nearest rival.

Webb, who was hoping to pull within striking distance of the Swede on moving day, said that she hoped to narrow the gap to three strokes heading into the final round but despite her best efforts she signed for a 70 and an eight-under-par total.

Despite having come from seven shots behind entering the final round to win the Kraft Nabisco Championship earlier this year, Webb admitted it would be a tough task to catch Sorenstam.

“I have to go out all guns blazing I guess. I won a tournament from seven shots back this year on the last day. I wasn’t chasing Annika but it can be done and if I play the golf that I played on the front nine and make some more putts then I know I have a low round in me,” Webb said.

“I just can’t control how Annika plays. If she plays as steady as she did today than she will be tough to catch.”

Sorenstam’s rounds of 65, 68 and 68 took her to 15-under-par after 54 holes and she led the tournament for the third day in succession.

“Obviously I’m very happy to be up on the leader board and I just have to focus on my own game and hope to do something special tomorrow,” Sorenstam said. “I know Karrie is having a great year and she is very capable of having great scores so I’ve just got to finish strongly.”

Webb made a strong charge on the front nine with birdies at the third, sixth and ninth holes and was three shots behind Sorenstam at the turn. However after a bogey on the tenth hole she could not pick up the momentum on the back nine and made eight consecutive pars to come home in one-over-par.

Sorenstam, who began with a bogey at the par-four first hole after her approach shot found a green side bunker, played the front nine in one-under-par after birdies at holes four and eight. She began to make her charge on the back nine and carded four birdies in six holes from the par-four 12th hole, where she hit her second shot to about 18 inches.

On the back nine she dropped one shot at the par-five 13th hole and came home in 34, three-under-par. “I had a tap in on 17 and at the last I made a seven-footer so it’s nice to finish strongly,” she said.

Sorenstam went on a desert safari on Friday afternoon where she rode a camel and held a falcon and she was still buzzing from the experience after her third round. She rated the trip as the third best experience of her life.

“I’m very lucky as I’ve done a lot of things but that desert safari was absolutely amazing!” she said. “Holding the falcon was one of the most memorable things although it kept flying on and off. The glove came right up my fore arm but I was a little bit worried because it was really heavy. I was thinking, “I might need my arm tomorrow!” She said she considered a four day safari in South Africa to be the best experience of her life.

After 54 holes in the Dubai Ladies Masters, The European Solheim Cup Captain Helen Alfredsson was in outright third position on seven-under-par after a 68. Two-time French Open champion Veronica Zorzi, Martina Eberl, Sarah Kemp and Solheim Cup veteran Trish Johnson tied for fourth place on four-under-par, while Amy Yang, 17, who turned professional two weeks ago was tied for eighth place on five-under-par with Karen Magrethe Juul, the Nykredit Masters champion.

Yang received a special exemption to play on the Ladies European Tour after winning the ANZ Ladies Masters in Australia and is playing in her first tournament as a professional. She is the youngest member of the Ladies European Tour.

Sophie Sandolo and Tania Elosegui of Spain finished on four-under-par and they finished tied for tenth place.