• Women's British Open

Hull surges into contention at Birkdale

Charley Hull birdied Birkdale's famous 18th to finish off a stunning 66 at the Women's British Open © Getty Images

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Charley Hull carded a round-of-the-day 66 to put herself well in contention headed into the final day of the Women's British Open.

On another day of tough scoring a Royal Birkdale, Kettering-born Hull, 20, will begin the fourth round as one of just 13 players under par.

Following a four-over 76 on Friday, Hull must have feared the worst when she bogeyed the first and second, but four birdies in her next five holes, as well as five further gains from the 12th, left her trailing leader Inbee Park by just three come the end of the round.

"I played aggressive and it worked for me today," Hull told the BBC. "I just hit fairways and hit greens and I just putted well.

"The first two holes I started bogey, bogey, but I got it back from that. A great back nine and a birdie every par three made it even better."

Park, meanwhile, followed up her opening level-par rounds with a four-under 68 to move one clear of Suzann Pettersen, Shanshan Feng and Sun-Ju Ahn - who was hit with a two-shot penalty for building a stance in a pot bunker by the 18th green.

South Korean Park is looking to become only the seventh player to win four of the LPGA Tour's majors, having won the Kraft Nabisco Championship, LPGA Championship and US Women's Open last year.

Amelie Lewis and Julieta Granada are two back of Park, while joining Hull on one-under par are Stacey Lewis, Eun-Hee Ji, Amy Yang, So Yeon Ryu, Beatriz Recari and overnight leader Mo Martin, who stumbled to a five-over 77.

The only other Englishwomen to make the cut, Dame Laura Davies and amateur Georgia Hall are three- and seven-over respectively, while Scot Vikki Laing is eight-over and Wales' Becky Brewerton propping up the leaderboard at 12-over.

Women's British Open full leaderboard

Women's British Open leaderboard © ESPN.co.uk

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