Matthew soars with the eagles

Women's British Open: North Berwick's finest brings her form home after success in the USA

Karrie Webb may adopt the baseball cap and shades style in the manner of David Duval, but any similarity between Catriona Matthew and Colin Montgomerie ends with a common nationality. A fortnight ago at Royal Lytham, Montgomerie's hopes of winning the Open Championship disappeared on a weekend when Duval's flawless golf gave the American the title. Webb, whose exploits in the last couple of seasons in the women's game have been more like those of Tiger Woods, moved up the leaderboard at the Weetabix Women's British Open but Matthew held on to her lead despite completing the third round in torrential rain.

Matthew came home in 40 as the green staff battled the waterlogged greens with their squeegee rollers. Play was eventually suspended, perhaps half-an-hour after it should have been, with the Scot on the 16th green. She returned facing a six-footer for par which she missed and then three-putted the last for a level-par 72.

She will begin the final round today at nine under with a one-stroke lead over fellow Scot Janice Moodie, who somehow managed to birdie two of the last five holes, Lancastrian Lora Fairclough and Mi Hyun Kim, of South Korea. Webb is lurking only two behind, with England's Trish Johnson, who had not dropped a shot until she bogeyed two of the last three holes.

"I was pretty unlucky with the weather," Matthew said, "but I missed the worst of it on Thursday. I played so well on the front nine and just lost concentration in the rain. I'm not particularly happy right now but I'm still in the lead and there is no better place to be than that. Karrie is, obviously, the big threat but everyone up there is capable of shooting a low score tomorrow."

The 32-year-old from North Berwick went to the turn in 32, to be 13 under and five ahead, with two birdies and an eagle at the short par-four ninth. Matthew drove the green and then holed a putt from 20 feet for her third eagle of the week. Remarkably, not one has come at a par-five. She holed out a seven-iron approach at the 18th on Thursday and holed in one with a seven-wood at the 15th on Friday. She has a steady temperament and as a graduate of Stirling University with a degree in financial studies would have known that the value of her investment might go down as well as up. Matthew's victories in six years as a professional have been few but impressive none the less. She won the Australian Open in Melbourne in 1996 and the WPGA Championship at Gleneagles two years later. This season has been her most productive in the States with a first LPGA Tour victory in the Hawaiian Open and fourth place in the US Women's Open.

As conditions turned nasty, Fairclough, after a 67, and Webb, who had a 68, were safely in the clubhouse. On Monday night in California, Webb played with Duval in a prime-time TV match against Woods and Annika Sorenstam. It was not an opportunity to turn down lightly ­ the women's game needs all the exposure it can get ­ but the preparations of the women's game's two best players were clearly compromised.

The Australian, aiming for a third major win in a row, dropped only one shot, at the fifth, holed a couple of 20-footers and put her sand wedge approach at the 11th to a foot. "The only difference between the first day and the last two days is that I have managed my game well," Webb said. "I am not at the top of my game but I have stayed out of the trouble and avoided bad misses.

"I don't think it was tiredness on Thursday, just some bad swings. If I had not bogeyed the last three holes, a 71 would have been a decent score. I love the set-up here. You have to be very creative and take the good bounces with the bad."

Sunningdale has a proud place in the history of the LPGA Tour as host to the old Colgate tournament in the 1970s, won by the likes of Nancy Lopez and Judy Rankin, here this week for American television. Webb, whose first big win was the British Open at Woburn in 1995, won the Open for a second time at Sunningdale in '97 by eight strokes. For the first time, the event has been accorded major status on the LPGA Tour. "It is well-deserved but I don't feel any differently about the tournament," Webb said. "I have always classed the British Open as a pretty important tournament to me."

Laura Davies, who has been frustrated at this championship since taking the title in 1986, had a 69 to move to six under, while Rebecca Hudson, the 22-year-old amateur from Yorkshire, scored a 70 to be one further back. She has more than achieved her aim on the first tee on Thursday of not disgracing herself in such illustrious company. All Davies needs is some putts to drop today. "My ball-striking is some of the best stuff I have played in my life," she said. "I want to win this more than anything in the world and if I hole some putts I might not be far away. If I don't, I haven't got a chance. These girls are too good."

Second round scores from the Weetabix Women's British Open, Surrey (Gbr and Irl unless stated, * denotes amateur):

207 C Matthew 70 65 72

208 L Fairclough 71 70 67, J Moodie 67 70 71, MH Kim (Kor) 72 65 71

209 K Webb (Aus) 74 67 68, T Johnson 70 67 72

210 L Davies 68 73 69, R Jones (USA) 70 69 71

211 K Fujii (Jpn) 71 71 69, T Hanson (USA) 72 69 70, R Hudson 71 70 70*, S R Pak (Korea) 71 70 70

212 K Kuehne (USA) 71 70 71, E Klein (USA) 71 70 71, B Morgan 73 68 71, J McGill (USA) 70 70 72, I Tinning (Den) 71 69 72

213 M Hedblom (Swe) 70 74 69, L Diaz (USA) 74 70 69, R Carriedo (Spa) 73 70 70, H Kobayashi (Jpn) 72 70 71, J Head 68 70 75

214 K Marshall 75 71 68, R Hakkarainen (Fin) 73 72 69, HW Han (Kor) 72 73 69, M Arruti (Spa) 71 73 70, K Parker (USA) 72 71 71, M McKay 70 72 72, K Robbins (USA) 69 72 73

215 LJ Hee (Kor) 75 71 69, Gloria Park (Kor) 71 73 71, V Goetze–Ackerman (USA) 75 68 72, P Meunier Lebouc (Fra) 72 70 73, Grace Park (Kor) 70 71 74, E Esterl (Ger) 71 69 75, W Doolan (Aus) 72 68 75

216 C Schreyer (USA) 73 72 71, M Hjorth (Swe) 72 73 71, S Cavalleri (Ita) 71 73 72, P Sinn (Kor) 74 70 72, B Burton (USA) 72 71 73, S Pettersen (Nor) 78 64 74

217 D Barnard 73 73 71, T Barrett 77 69 71, Y Ping Lin (Tpe) 72 73 72, J Morley 74 71 72, Dina Ammaccapane (USA) 72 71 74, B Iverson (USA) 71 72 74, Danielle Ammaccapane (USA) 75 68 74

218 M Baena (Col) 72 74 72, L Hed (Swe) 71 75 72, S Strudwick 74 71 73, K Booth (USA) 72 73 73, K Icher (Fra) 71 74 73, A Sorenstam (Swe) 70 74 74, M Monnet (Fra) 70 72 76, H Alfredsson (Swe) 71 69 78

219 L Maritz (Rsa) 74 72 73, N Moult 74 71 74, L Neumann (Swe) 73 71 75

220 L Kane (Can) 70 75 75, C Duffy 73 71 76, C Harada (Jpn) 74 70 76

221 J Lidback (Per) 72 73 76, C Koch (Swe) 73 72 76

222 J Mills (Aus) 75 70 77, K Taylor 72 73 77, S Gustafson 74 70 78

224 D Delasin (USA) 71 69 84

226 J Van Hagen (Ned) 75 70 81