The Berkshire 36-year-old led by one from France's Sandrine Mendiburu and Norway's Suzann Pettersen, who only re-entered the event at the last minute to try and clinch her Solheim Cup place.

In glorious conditions for the final counting event before European captain Dale Reid names her Solheim side on Sunday, Pettersen had four birdies and an eagle.

The top seven in the Solheim rankings will be automatically selected, and Pettersen is currently in sixth place, one ahead of Denmark's Iben Tinning, who opened with a 70.

But Britain's Laura Davies, in eighth and hoping to bag a place without having to rely on gaining one of Reid's five wild cards, did not do her cause much good with a 74 that included two double-bogeys.

Duffy is not in the Solheim race, but she would dearly love to claim her first Tour title.

This season, she has cut back on her tournament play and her `real' job is working as a coach at the Newbury Racecourse Golf Centre.

"I still love playing, but I can't afford to do it," said the player whose only win was in the 2000 South African Players' Championship.

"But days like this are great. This is the second best round of my career, just behind the 63 I had in South Africa."

She had six birdies, including one at the 18th to snatch the lead, and an eagle at the 444-yard eighth, where she hit a five wood second shot to 10 feet.

She paid tribute to the Tour's sports psychologist, Vicki Aitken.

"Vicki has made me think far more positively about my golf," she explained.

"I've got a much better attitude and tomorrow I just want to go out and have another really good round."