Rosales fires 69, trails leader by 6

MOBILE, Alabama – Jennifer Rosales somehow recovered her touch and shot a three-under par 69 as she moved up four notches to joint 12th heading into the final round of the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic on Saturday.

Rosales, who actually enjoyed the joint lead after a fiery opening-day 67 only to fumble with an even round the next, has assembled an eight-under 208 after 54 holes, trailing leader Stacy Lewis (67, 202) by six shots.

Teeing off in the front nine of The Crossings course at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail’s Magnolia Grove complex, Rosales started her round with a birdie on the par-4 first and added another one on the par-5 fifth.

She had two more birdies on the 11th and 15th and appeared on her way to a bogey-less round until she dropped a stroke in the last hole, a par-4, to submit a three-under for the day.

Lewis birdied five of her last seven holes to shoot a 5-under 67 and take a two-stroke lead over Brittany Lincicome (67, 204) into the final round.

Lewis, the 2011 Kraft Nabisco Championship winner, finished strong again to hang on to her second-round lead. Karine Icher of France shot a 68 and is three strokes back while Sun Young Yoo and Lindsey Wright both had 69s and are at 10 under.

Six others, including 17-year-old Lexi Thompson, are within five shots of Lewis’ 14-under 202 total. Karrie Webb is also with the group after tying the tournament record with a 64 already matched a day earlier by Karin Sjodin. With AP reports