Kim on the verge of Masters victory

Dubai : In-Kyung Kim dominated the proceedings for the second straight day as she widened the gap at the top of the 500,000 euro Dubai Ladies Masters leaderboard with a superb five-under-67 round that will put her at a little ease going into today's final day at Emirates Golf Club.

Overnight leader Kim, who started the day on nine-under-135, two strokes ahead of American Michelle Wie, picked up from where she left off. The Korean built on her seven birdies in the second round by firing six more yesterday. Her only blemish was on the par-four-eight, where she blundered with the line and dropped it in the bunker, which resulted in her first bogey in two days.

Kim found the rough with her second shot on the par-four-16th a good 30 yards away. But she recovered well chipping to within three yards and making par, even as partner Wie's putt from 16 yards out stopped inches from the cup. Both took par.

World No 13 Kim, who birdied the second, third, ninth, 13th, 14th and 17th, said: "I'm very happy with how I played, it was solid again. I made some putts and left some, but I tried hard and I think five-under is not bad.

"Even though you're ahead, you've got to play your game. I have to play [today], go out there and have some fun. You know, nothing is easy. It's getting better with sleep actually."

Wie endured a turbulent day three and now has one round in which to bridge her six-shot gap with Kim. The American pin-up was totally out of sorts and the gloom that prevailed over the Emirates Golf Club due to yesterday's overcast conditions seemed to have permeated into her play as she made 15 pars, shot two birdies and picked up the lone bogey to end the day on one-under-71 for a cumulative eight-under-208 after 54 holes.

"It was frustrating — I didn't get any putts in. I probably played pretty solid, but just couldn't get anything going. I felt like I hit the ball well, just not all the putts went in. Hopefully, they will all go in [today]," said Wie, who is tied fourth in a four-woman group with Tania Elosegui, Gwladys Nocera and Amy Yang, and had to answer her another exam last night. Sweden's Anna Nordqvist, a definite for this year's Ryder Cup Wales Rookie of the Year title, enjoyed a superb run. The Swede shot the day's lowest score a seven-under-65, in a flawless round, that gave her an 11-under-205 score after day three.

Considering Kim's form of the last two rounds, Nordqvist will find it difficult to erase the three-shot deficit. But she is eager to get going and has promised to keep her head down on focus on the finishing the job for her third win of the season.