South Korea’s Choi Na-yeon fired a one-under 71 to claim a two-shot lead on Friday at the halfway stage of the LPGA Samsung World Championship.
Choi had a 36-hole total of four-under 140, and a two-stroke lead over a group of four players that included world No. 1 Lorena Ochoa and American Paula Creamer.
On a day when difficult, windy weather pushed scores up, Choi made the most of the more favorable early conditions and opened her round with a birdie at the first.
She picked up another stroke at the eighth, but had just one more birdie, at the last, after back-to-back bogeys at 13 and 14.
“It was really windy today and the weather had gotten worse as we went into the latter half of the round,” Choi said. “Even though I was kind of cruising, after the first couple of bogeys I felt like the game was kind of getting away from me.”
“But when I actually looked up on the scoreboard, and saw everybody else’s score, as well as mine, it actually gave me kind of a calm confidence,” she said.
Ochoa briefly looked like running away with it as she reeled off five straight birdies from the fourth.
But as the wind kicked up the two-time defending champion found the going got tougher.
Ochoa’s birdie binge ended with a double-bogey at the par-three ninth, and she had another double at the par-four 13th.
She dropped shots at 16 and 18 en route to a 73 for two-under 142.
Ochoa was joined there by South Korean Song-Hee Kim (73), American Angela Stanford (73) and Creamer (74)
Despite her birdie burst, Ochoa was frustrated by her back nine, even in the demanding conditions.
“It had the same conditions for everybody,” she said. “It was bad. I’m upset I made those two double bogeys. I should have just made bogey and left with a better score. It’s Friday. I have two days to go. I’m close to the lead and I’m going to make sure I play good on the weekend.”
“Some players are good with this wind, I wasn’t,” Ochoa said. “I believe wasn’t able to make the transition, but I’ll play better tomorrow.”
Australian Katherine Hull (73), Taiwan’s Yani Tseng (74) and South Korea’s overnight leader Ji-Yai Shin (76) were at 1 under.
Shin, the reigning Women’s British Open champion, had carded a five-under 67 on Thursday, but had seven bogeys on Friday and didn’t nab her first birdie until the 14th.
Ochoa is looking to become the fourth player to win this event at least three times, including five-time winner Annika Sorenstam.
The Swedish star, who was paired with Ochoa, struggled to a 77 to lie six adrift on 146.
RSS