Defending champion Lorena Ochoa shot a five-under 67 to vault into the lead after the second round of the US$1 million Samsung LPGA World Championship on Friday.
Ochoa, who started the day one stroke behind the leaders, almost had the lead on Thursday except for a stumble on the 18th hole where she made a double bogey.
At the halfway point she topped the leaderboard at nine-under 135, one stroke ahead of first-round leaders Paula Creamer and Angela Park. Angela Stanford is also one shot behind Ochoa.
Mexico's Ochoa had a bogey-free round, shooting 34 on the front nine and 33 on the back.
Ochoa dominated the par-fives at Bighorn Golf Club, with birdies at the par-five third, seventh, 12th and 15th.
"I think that's the key in this golf course," she said. "I was very happy to do that. I am able to reach two for sure -- maybe three of them in two. That makes a big difference."
"I putted twice for eagle. It's important to do that. I'm going to try to do the same with my tee shot and give myself a chance," she said
Both Park and Ochoa birdied 15, but then the Brazilian-born Park made bogey two holes later to fall behind.
Creamer led after 14 holes but couldn't keep up, stringing together four straight pars beginning at 15.
Michelle Wie, with her dad back on the bag as caddie, couldn't keep up for the second day in a row.
Wie was in last place in the 20-player field after shooting another 79. She marked her 18th birthday on Thursday by shooting the same score.
Wie, whose forgettable season has seen her hindered by a wrist injury, is one of just three golfers over par in the event.
Taiwanese world No. 1 women’s doubles star Hsieh Su-wei on Saturday overcame a first-set loss to win her opening match at the Madrid Open. Top seeds Hsieh and partner Elise Mertens of Belgium, with whom she last month won her fourth Indian Wells women’s doubles title, bounced back from a rocky first set to beat Asia Muhammad of the US and Aldila Sutjiadi of Indonesia 2-6, 6-4, 10-2. Hsieh and Mertens were next to face Heather Watson of the UK and Xu Yifan of China in the round of 16. Thirty-eight-year-old Hsieh last month reclaimed her world No. 1 spot after her Indian
EYES ON THE PRIZE: Armed with three solid men’s singles shuttlers and doubles Olympic champions, Taiwan aim to make their first Thomas Cup semi-final, Chou Tien-chen said Taiwanese badminton star Tai Tzu-ying yesterday quickly dispatched Malaysia’s Goh Jin Wei in straight sets, while her male counterpart Chou Tien-chen beat Germany’s Kai Schaefer, as Taiwan’s women’s and men’s teams won their Group B opening rounds of the TotalEnergies BWF Thomas and Uber Cup Finals in Chengdu, China. World No. 5 Tai beat Goh 21-19, 22-20 in a speedy 33 minutes, her fourth straight victory over the world No. 24 shuttler since they first faced each other in the quarter-finals of the 2018 Malaysia Open, where Tai went on to win the women’s singles title. Malaysia followed up Tai’s opening victory
Chen Yi-tung (陳奕通) secured a historic Olympic berth on Sunday by winning the senior men’s foil event at the 2024 Asia Oceania Zonal Olympic Fencing Qualifiers in United Arab Emirates. Chen defeated Samuel Elijah of Singapore 15-4 in the final in Dubai to secure the only wild card in the event, making him the first male Olympian fencer from Taiwan in 36 years and only the sixth Taiwanese fencer to ever qualify for the quadrennial event. The last appearance by a Taiwanese male fencer at the Olympics was in 1988, when Wang San-tsai (王三財) and Cheng Ming-hsiang (鄭明祥) competed in Seoul. The
Rafael Nadal on Tuesday lost in straight sets to 31st-ranked Jiri Lehecka in the fourth round at the Madrid Open, while Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei advanced to the semi-finals in the women’s doubles. Nadal said that he was feeling good about his progress following his latest injury layoff. Nadal called it a “positive week” in every way and said his body held up well. “I was able to play four matches, a couple of tough matches,” Nadal said. “So very positive, winning three matches, playing four matches at the high level of tennis. I enjoyed a lot playing at home. I leave here with