KIRAN MATHARU, SAMANTHA HEAD

IN TOP 30 WITH ONE ROUND TO GO

AT LPGA Q SCHOOL ELIMINATOR

FROM THE LPGA TOUR WEBSITE

Australian Anna Rawson shot a tournament-low, five-under par 67 to take a one-shot lead after the third round of the LPGA Sectional Qualifying Tournament at Mission Hills Country Club, Rancho Mirage in California.
Rawson holds a one-shot lead over Ashleigh Simon of South Africa and Yani Tseng of Taiwan.Rawson, who has a three-day total of 71-74-67=212 (-4), made birdies on holes 4 and 9 with a bogey on hole 8 to make the turn at even-par for the tournament. On the back nine, she made birdies on holes 12, 14, 15, 17 and 18 with a bogey on hole 13 to finish at 5-under-par 67 for the day and four-under-par 212 entering the final round.
“I felt like the ball was on a leash,” said Rawson following her round. “It was straight down the middle and straight at the pin. I felt really comfortable with my putts and they dropped today.”
This week marks Rawson's fourth attempt at qualifying for the LPGA Tour. The native Australian played 17 events on the Duramed Futures Tour in 2005 before moving to the Ladies European Tour, where she was a fixture in 2006 and 2007.
Her best career professional finish was a second place showing at the Deutsche Bank Ladies Swiss Open in May.
At the University of Southern California, Rawson finished 11th individually at the 2003 NCAA Women's Golf championship, the same year the Trojans won the team title. In 2001 and 2002, she was named to the Pac-10 honorable mention team.
“I'm hitting the ball so much further than I ever have,” said Rawson. “These courses used to intimidate me. I'd hit 4-irons and 3-irons, but the longest club I hit today was 5-iron. My game has improved so much and it feels really good.”
Simon, a South African, fired a one-under-par 71 on Friday to move into a tie for second place at three-under-par 213 (73-69-71) with Tseng. Simon used birdies on holes 2 and 4 and a bogey on hole 6 to make the turn at 1-under-par for the day. She shot even-par on the back nine with a birdie on hole 10 and a bogey on hole 13 to finish at 3-under-par heading into the final round.
“I played really solid today and struck it nicely,” said Simon. “I could have sunk a lot more putts though. I'm coming in here to try to get a top-30 spot. I'm not going out tomorrow to try to shoot lights out. I'll just try to play level golf. It doesn't matter where you finish, as long as you get to Daytona.”
Simon, who turned professional in May of 2007, has played in 19 tournaments on the Ladies European Tour since 2006. Her first career victory came in Spain at the Catalonia Ladies Masters this June. Simon also played two events on the LPGA Tour in 2007, including a sponsor exemption at the HSBC Women's World Match Play Championship.
Tseng began the day at 4-under-par and made the turn at 5-under-par for the tournament after a birdie on hole 2. She struggled on the back nine with bogies on holes 11, 13 and 15 and a birdie on hole 16 to finish at 3-under-par (72-68-73=213).
“My putting was very good, but I was confused by the wind,” said Tseng. “Tomorrow I will just relax because number one or number thirty, you still make it.”
A native of Taiwan who recently bought a home in Southern California, Tseng made her second appearance on the LPGA Tour at the 2007 CN Canadian Women's Open where she finished tied for sixth.

England's Kiran Matharu (219), pictured above, and Samantha Head (220) are lying joint 22nd and joint 29th with one round to go.
The final round will be played on the Dinah Shore course at Mission Hills Country Club. The top-30 players and ties at the end of 72 holes will advance to the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament at LPGA International in Daytona Beach, Fla., Nov. 28-Dec. 2.
The Rancho Mirage qualifier is the first of the LPGA Tour's two sectional qualifying events in 2007. The second LPGA Tour Sectional Qualifying Tournament is Oct. 2-5 at Plantation Golf and Country Club in Venice, Fla.
The top-30 finishers and ties from the Florida qualifier will join the California sectional qualifiers, current LPGA Tour members attempting to improve their status and the players who finished sixth through 15th on the final 2007 Duramed Futures Tour money list at the LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament.

THIRD-ROUND TOTALS
Par 216 (3 x 72)
1 Anna Rawson 71-74-67 212.
T2 Yani Tseng 72-68-73 213.
T2 Ashleigh Simon 73-69-71 213.
T4 Kelly Lagedrost 68-72-74 214.
T4 Emma Cabrera-Bello 73-70-71 214.
T4 Kristie Smith 73-70-71 214.
T7 Song Yi Choi 69-73-73 215.
T7 Amy Yang 73-72-70 215.
T7 Jin Hyun Kim 75-71-69 215.
T10 Jennifer Ackerson 69-73-74 216.
T10 Hwan Hee Lee 70-73-73 216.
T12 Annie Young 72-70-75 217.
T12 Amie Cochran 67-80-70 217.
T14 Helen Oh 73-73-72 218.
T14 Louise Friberg 74-73-71 218.
T14 Whitney Wade 72-71-75 218.
T14 Nontaya Srisawang 71-74-73 218.
T14 Christina Lecuyer 76-72-70 218.
T14 Meghan Little 77-73-68 218.
T14 Dana Je 75-72-71 218.
T14 Sarah-Jane Kenyon 72-76-70 218.
T22 Shinah Ham 74-72-73 219.
T22 Ashley Knoll 71-74-74 219.
T22 Nikki Garrett 72-72-75 219.
T22 Nicole Hage 69-78-72 219.
T22 Kiran Matharu (Eng) 77-72-70 219.
T22 Danah Ford 73-74-72 219.
T22 May Wood 73-74-72 219.
T29 Samantha Head (Eng) 73-73-74 220.
T29 Hannah Jun 70-76-74 220.
T29 Priscilla Duffield 70-74-76 220.
T29 Eileen Vargas 77-72-71 220.
T29 Catherine Matranga 74-73-73 220.
T29 Amy Schmucker 72-75-73 220.
-----------LEADING 30 AND TIES AFTER FOUR ROUNDS QUALIFY -
T35 Russy Gulyanamitta 76-71-74 221.
T35 Shanshan Feng 73-75-73 221.
T35 Tiffany Tavee 72-75-74 221.
T35 D'Rae Ward 72-73-76 221.
T35 Joanne Mills 71-75-75 221.
T35 Kelly Froelich 73-75-73 221.
T35 Carolina Llano 73-77-71 221.
T35 Hiroko Fujishima 75-75-71 221.
T35 Caryn Wilson 75-74-72 221.
T35 Anja Monke (Ger) 73-75-73 221.
T35 Sarah Kemp 74-75-72 221.
T46 Sukjin Lee Wuesthoff 75-73-74 222.
T46 Katie Allison 68-76-78 222.
T46 Esther Choe 78-71-73 222.
T46 Rachel Bailey 72-77-73 222.
T50 Misun Cho 75-73-75 223.
T50 Nicole Melton 73-75-75 223.
T50 Rachel Newren 71-77-75 223.
T50 Chris Brady 77-73-73 223.
T50 Lauren Espinosa 73-77-73 223.
T50 Yoo Lee Kim 75-74-74 223.
T56 Meghan Bolger 77-73-74 224.
T56 Ashley Gomes 73-75-76 224.
T56 Jenny Suh 71-77-76 224.
T56 Lauren Todd 70-75-79 224.
T56 Marcela Leon 75-75-74 224.

T56 Joanna Whitley 77-71-76 224.

T56 Cortney Reno 74-74-76 224.
T63 Anna Temple 76-73-76 225.

T63 Chris Newton 75-74-76 225.

T63 Jennifer Greggain 73-76-76 225.
T63 Alice Kim 73-77-75 225.

T63 Yoora Kim 73-77-75 225.

T63 Lili Alvarez 77-72-76 225.

T63 Krystal Shearer 74-74-77 225.

T63 Kim Welch 72-75-78 225.

T63 Jenna Pearson 73-74-78 225.

T72 Leah Hart 76-73-77 226.

T72 Jana Peterkova 72-76-78 226.

T72 Porani Chutichai 75-75-76 226.

T72 Bridget Keala Dwyer 73-77-76 226.

T76 Ulrika Ljungman-Smith 74-76-77 227.

T76 Randi Meadows 75-75-77 227.

T76 Taya Battistella 74-75-78 227.

T76 Leah Wigger 75-74-78 227.

T80 Michelle Simpson 74-72-82 228.

T80 Libby Smith 75-74-79 228.

T80 Corina Kelepouris 74-76-78 228.

T83 Benedikte B Grotvedt 72-78-79 229.