Saether powers to front of Scandinavian TPC

Norwegian Lill Saether shot a course-record 64 to take a one-stroke lead at the Scandinavian TPC event hosted by Annika Sorenstam.

Saether made a stunning start with birdies at six of her first seven holes.

She birdied her first hole and then reeled off five more in a row from the 12th. She also birdied her last two holes, the eighth and ninth at Frosaker Golf & Country Club, completing her lowest round in four seasons on the Ladies European Tour.

The 24-year-old from Oslo finished the day on nine-under-par 135, one stroke clear of Sweden’s Maria Hjorth and England’s Lora Fairclough.

Saether said that she had hoped to play with the first-round leader Sorenstam on the final day but the Swede shot 71 and slipped back into joint fourth place with England’s Johanna Head on seven under par.

“I talked to my coach the other day and he said, ’If you play with Annika in the last round I’m going to drive five hours from Oslo to come and see you play’,” explained Saether.

“I was aiming to play with her but I made the last putt so I don’t think I will play with her tomorrow. I hope he is going to drive anyway.”

A gallery of 15,000 spectators followed Sorenstam throughout her round and gave a Mexican wave as she finished the par-four 18th hole.

“The support has been fantastic. It’s always fun to come home: you really feel it,” said Sorenstam, who will step away from tournament play at the end of the year to pursue business interests and start a family.

“They started the wave on the last hole and it was kind of fun to see. I appreciate the support and all of the cheering for sure.”

Sorenstam carded four birdies and three bogeys today, but acknowledged that she would need to work hard to reclaim the trophy that she lost to Catriona Matthew in 2007.

“The play was okay but my score doesn’t reflect that. I had a few good chances out there and it would have been nice if a few putts had gone in,” she said.