You might think Alison Lee has a new favourite golf course, following yet another sensational day at Riyadh Golf Club.

Following a historic first round of records on Friday in Saudi Arabia for the American with her 61 at the Aramco Team Series finale, Lee was at it again on Saturday, posting another 61 to sit on a staggering 22-under and take a six-stroke lead into the final round.

In the process, she smashed the existing Ladies European Tour 36-hole record of 16-under by eight shots and is in prime position for her second professional individual title.

Try as they might, the rest of the pack were left trailing (and congratulating) Lee, with overnight challenger and namesake Minjee fading somewhat, adding a 70 to go with a first-round of 63.

Minjee now sits in a bunch on 11-under alongside World No. 1 Lilia Vu, with Spain’s Carlota Ciganda the closest contender to Alison on 16-under.

Carlota Ciganda. ATS

The Spaniard’s wonderful nine-under 63, means Alison cannot afford to be complacent on Sunday, especially if the Solheim Cup hero keeps playing like this.

When asked by Golf Digest about where Riyadh sits on her top courses list now after a brilliant 48 hours, Alison said with a laugh: “The wind wasn’t up today, and the soft greens also helped, so it was a fairly easy day like yesterday. Personally, I enjoy playing very difficult courses, especially for tournament rounds, because I field a little bit. When it is easy like this, it kind of becomes a putting competition. Thankfully, I am on the good side of that this week on this golf course. I am putting really well. Not only that, but I am leaving myself 15 feet and in on every hole.

“But at the end of the day, it’s about making my putts, and I was able to make a lot of them today. Overall, it is quite a short course. Every hole, I was looking at wedge or less in and on only two of the par-3s was I using an 8-iron in.

“Only on one hole did I need to lay up — my 13th hole I think — and I was like: ‘Oh, I haven’t seen this club in a while!’

“You got to play confidently and aggressively out there because there are so many birdies to be made.”

On the shortest holes, Lee made a stunning six birdies on eight par-3s over the first two days, and again Lee said that was down to the playing conditions.

“The lack of wind and the soft greens meant you didn’t need to try to take it up this hill or land in a specific spot, you can pretty much just go straight at the flag and hit your numbers.”

Should Lee repeat her magic on the course on the final day on Sunday, she admitted she would wish it was a 72-hole event so she could go for even more records. She equalled the best round (61) on the LET on both days so far, has the Riyadh course record (x2) and also matched the LET record of eight birdies in a row on Day 1.

“Yeah, absolutely,” she laughed. “We will see what happens tomorrow. A lot depends on the weather. I feel really confident about my game right now. I didn’t expect another 61 today, but I did expect another low one. Hopefully I can break it [61] tomorrow, I still have one more day!”

Alison and her playing partners came so close to celebrating the two-day Team crown with a collective score of 40-under and the joint clubhouse lead alongside Team Cheenglab.

But Ciganda’s quartet had other ideas and roared through the back nine to overhaul Lee, Switzerland’s Morgane Metraux, Gaurika Bishnoi of India and impressive American amateur Chris Thomas.

Ciganda, Alessandra Fanali, Sara Kouoskova and amateur Saudi Arabia prospect Lujain ‘LJ’ Khalil made the final push to get ahead of Team Lee and Team Cheenglab.

LJ holed out the key putt for two on the par-3 17th to get Team Ciganda to 41-under — a moment she will treasure forever. Kouskova followed the amateur in for birdie to take them to 42-under, with Team Bronte Law, the only quartet on course who could catch them, settling for 39-under and fourth place.

As the sun set on the final group, it was skipper Ciganda who had the final say, narrowly missing eagle, but claiming the birdie to take the team to 43-under and trigger a sea of high-fives.

“I love the team events, where you are all pulling for each other. I am happier for the team than myself, especially LJ, who holed that winning putt,” said Ciganda. “We all contributed and it was a great team effort.”

Finali added: “We really had a lot of fun out there, especially the last four or five holes, where we all came together.”

Now Ciganda and Lee turn their attention to Sunday and take aim at a sensational finale to round out the ATS season.

Main image: ATS