Following the second round of the Omega Dubai Moonlight Classic, German rookie Esther Henseleit lit up the Emirates Golf Club's Faldo course with a six-under on par-66 to share the lead with Nuria Iturrios at nine under par.

  • LET: Esther Henseleit and Nuria Iturrios light up the Moonlight Classicnlight Classic
    A panoramic view of the 9th hole from the second tee - © Tristan Jones / LET

The duo lead by one point ahead of Germany's Olivia Cowan as they approach the final round of the world's first professional day-night tournament, the Omega Dubai Moonlight Classic.

German player Karolin Lampert, who played in the LET spotlight on Thursday night, is fourth at six under par, and first-round leader Leona Maguire of Ireland, fifth at five under par.

Henseleit, Cowan, Lampert and Maguire are all chasing their first victory on the Ladies European Tour, while Iturrios, who won the Lalla Meryem Cup in Morocco for the second time last week, could, thanks to the title of Omega Dubai Moonlight Classic, becoming the last player to win two successive titles since Aditi Ashok won the Hero Women's Indian Open and Qatar Masters in 2016. In recent history, Australians Stacey Peters (née Keating) and Nikki Garrett also achieved the feat in 2012 and 2007 respectively.

Henseleit, who had a +7,1 handicap when she turned pro in January, is an astronomical talent who has already secured four top 10s in five starts this year on LET.

In her 20th round only as a Ladies European Tour player, she made a burst of eight birdies in her first 16 holes before making a double bogey on the 17 par-3.

LET fans may have seen the turn coming as she finished third in the Investec South African Women's Open and fourth in the Lalla Meryem Cup last week, rising to the top of the Rookie of the Year standings. .

The young 20-year-old Hamburger, who is in her sixth tournament as a professional, feels confident and says: “My long game is very solid and my ball hitting is very good, so my swing feels good. I felt like I could attack a few flags and put my putt on well, so I had a lot of birdies. Unfortunately I had a double bogey on the 17th which was not very good but it does happen. I am always happy with my turn. "

With the Omega Dubai Moonlight Classic, the 2017 PING Junior Solheim Cup player now has the chance to win her first professional title in her sixth tournament only and said: “It would mean everything to me. I think everyone wants to win and it's great to do that in the first year, but there's still a day to go and I'm not thinking about winning. I want to do my best and see what happens tomorrow. "

Iturrios got a 68 to join Henseleit in the lead and she said: “I made two birdies with very good bunker shots on holes 10 and 13, where I can reach the greens in two strokes. I love bunker strikes, it's perfect for me. I putts and missed some, so we'll see that tomorrow. "

On her chances of winning consecutive titles, the 23-year-old from Palma de Mallorca adds: “It would be great, of course, but there are still 18 holes to play and you never know. It's golf, so I want to enjoy it. "

Cowan, 23, of Hamburg, who had four birdies in his 70 second round, said it was very different day and night: “It was very hot today so it was a little different from yesterday. I played really well, once again. I made some silly mistakes which cost me a bit of money, but otherwise I'm happy with the day.

“Yesterday was a lot cooler and it's probably better to start the afternoon, actually, because the first hour it gets pretty hot, but then it cools down pretty quickly. Today, it was really hot, from 8:30 am. "

Maguire is still in the hunt, despite his bogey at hole 17 and his double at hole 7. She said: “I didn't give myself a lot of chances today. At seven I wanted to hit with a 7 wood my caddy wanted me to hit with an iron and I hit with an iron in the water which was pretty boring to finish with. I didn't give myself enough chances and I didn't putts, so no birdies today. I need to play a lot better tomorrow and hit my irons better to give myself more chances. "

The last round begins at 10 a.m. local time this Friday.

To see the scoreboard: click here

To read our article on the presentation of the event: Omega Dubai Moonlight Classic: the first professional day-night golf tournament