La Sella Open Reduced To 54 Holes As Heath Maintains Commanding Lead

England’s Charlotte Heath will take a commanding four-shot advantage into the final round of the La Sella Open after severe weather forced tournament officials to reduce the event to 54 holes.  

Play on day three began with the resumption of the second round at 8:30am local time, but heavy rain, followed by thunder and lightning, quickly brought proceedings to a halt. With conditions deemed unsafe and further disruption expected, officials made the difficult decision to shorten the tournament by one round.   

The second round eventually resumed at 3pm on Saturday, with the final round now scheduled for Sunday.

Heath, who produced a superb seven-under-par 65 on Friday, remained at the top of the leaderboard despite not striking a shot on Saturday. The Englishwoman heads into the decisive round on 11-under-par, four strokes clear of Australia’s Maddison Hinson-Tolchard and Poland’s Dorota Zalewska, who share second place at seven-under.

Zalewska completed the final nine holes of her delayed second round in style, carding a four-under-par 68 to move into contention. Having started her round on Friday afternoon and finished it late on Saturday, the 26-year-old described it as the longest round of her career.

“I teed off at 8.30am this morning in that rain and I couldn’t see the ball, basically,” said Zalewska. “The ball travelled 40 metres shorter. I smashed that drive and I thought, ‘What is happening?’ Then play was suspended and we left the course.”

When play resumed, the Pole made an immediate impact, holing a lengthy eagle putt on the second before adding another long-range birdie on the sixth.

“It was an interesting nine holes, but I’ll take it,” she added.

Asked about the opportunity to challenge for her maiden Ladies European Tour title on Sunday, Zalewska remained composed.

“Yes, I am excited. Let’s keep it rolling. It’s a normal day, a normal round and we’ll see what happens.”

A further shot back on six-under-par, Singapore’s Shannon Tan posted a second consecutive round of 69 to move into a share of fourth place alongside England’s Alice Hewson and the 2024 champion Helen Briem of Germany. Kajsa Arwefjall of Sweden lies in seventh position, six shots from the lead.

Tan returned to complete the final three holes of her second round on Saturday, birdieing both the 16th and 17th.

“I’m glad to have gone out to play today,” said the 22-year-old. “Considering how much rain we had overnight and this morning, it was nice to be able to get back out there, and the course was still in great shape.”

In a gesture of support, tournament organisers confirmed that all players who missed the cut will receive a €1,400 missed-cut payment.

As for the Irish, Lauren Walsh shot a 73 to finish at 2-under 142; Áine Donegan carded a 69 to finish at level-par 144, and Sara Byrne shot a 72 for a 1-over 145 to make the cut for the final round. Olivia Mehaffey, Anna Foster and Annabel Wilson all failed to make the 2-over cut.

The final round of the La Sella Open gets underway at 9am on Sunday, with the final group of Heath, Hinson-Tolchard and Zalewska set to tee off at 12:45pm local time.

For leaderboard click here.

Photo: La Sella Golf hit by terrible weather. (Photo by Oliver Brady/LET).