South Korea’s Kim Song-hee shot a tournament-record nine-under 62 for a share of the second-round lead at the Canadian Women’s Open with Norway’s Suzann Pettersen on Friday.
Pettersen, coming off a playoff loss to M.J. Hur last week at the Safeway Classic in Oregon, shot a 68 to match Kim at nine-under at Priddis Greens.
Top-ranked Lorena Ochoa (68) and Women’s British Open winner Catriona Matthew (66) were a stroke back, while Hur (67), Angela Stanford (65) and Yoo Sun-young (66) were seven-under.
Taiwan’s Yani Tseng shot a 67 to sit at six-under with Britain’s Janice Moody, who carded a 65.
First-round leader Anna Rawson followed her opening 64 with a 73 to finish at five-under.
Taiwan’s Amy Hung shot a 76, Candie Kung carded 78 and Teresa Lu had a 75. They all missed the cut.
The 21-year-old Kim, winless in three seasons on the US LPGA Tour, birdied the first six holes and finished with 10 birdies and a bogey to break Rawson’s day-old course record by two shots. The tournament mark was also 64.
“I didn’t know I had six birdies in a row, so it was awesome,” said Kim, who shot a scorching 28 on the front nine. “I mean it was fantastic.”
Ochoa is winless since the Corona Championship in Mexico in April.
“It’s been a fun two days,” Ochoa said. “What I always try to do is to be in a good position for the weekend and I’m right there.”
All 12 Canadians in the field missed the cut.
■DEUTSCHE BANK
AP, NORTON, MASSACHUSETTS
Steve Stricker birdied his first two holes at the Deutsche Bank Championship on Friday and Tiger Woods could see what was coming.
Walking to the next tee, Woods said to his caddie: “He’s going to shoot 62.”
Woods’ instincts were just off. Stricker shot 63.
With superb command of his driver and his typical dose of great putting, Stricker ran off five straight birdies and only once came close to a bogey to share the first-round lead with Jim Furyk at TPC Boston.
Furyk, without a victory in more than two years, shot his eight-under 63 in the afternoon. He had five birdies in his opening six holes, settled in for a diet of pars, then closed with consecutive birdies for his lowest round of the year.
They were two shots clear of a group that included Masters champion Angel Cabrera, Justin Leonard, Retief Goosen and Scott Verplank, who had dinner with Stricker on Thursday and had a minor bout of food poisoning.
Stricker felt fine.
“To get off to a birdie-birdie start just kind of got the day started in the right direction,” Stricker said.
In a reversal, it was Woods who had the best seat for a great round. The world No. 1 hit ordinary shots to the green, hit one tee shot into the bushes for a penalty shot and failed to convert five birdie chances he had inside 12 feet. He wound up with a 70.
“I didn’t really do much of anything positive today,” Woods said. “I didn’t feel good over any shot today. Didn’t drive it very good, hit my irons worse and didn’t make any putts. Other than that, it was a good day.”
■EUROPEAN MASTERS
AFP, CRANS-SUR-SIERRE, SWITZERLAND
South Africa’s Thomas Aiken fired a second-round seven-under 64 to take the clubhouse lead at the European Masters on Friday.
Wales’ Bradley Dredge, whose last tour victory came here in 2006, is only one behind thanks to a second round 65 and is nine-under for the tournament.
Aiken’s round took him to 10-under, but overnight leaders Brett Rumford and Simon Dyson both slipped off the pace.
Australian Rumford, who played the last 13 holes in 11-under in the first round for a 62, dropped four strokes in his first five holes, but recovered to seven-under.
Englishman Dyson, one behind overnight, had two bogeys in the first four, came back with four birdies, but then finished bogey-bogey for a level par 71.
Dyson, the winner of the Dutch Open last month, was in third place on eight-under.
Alongside Dyson are Ireland’s Paul McGinley and Angelo Que of the Philippines, while Thai player Chapchai Nirat was a shot further back.
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RALLY: It was only the second time the Taiwanese has partnered with Kudermetova, and the match seemed tight until they won seven points in a row to take the last set 10-2 Taiwan’s Chan Hao-ching and Russia’s Veronika Kudermetova on Sunday won the Porsche Tennis Grand Prix women’s doubles final in Stuttgart, Germany. The pair defeated Norway’s Ulrikke Eikeri and Estonia’s Ingrid Neel 4-6, 6-3, 10-2 in a tightly contested match at the WTA 500 tournament. Chan and Kudermetova fell 4-6 in the first set after having their serve broken three times, although they played increasingly well. They fought back in the second set and managed to break their opponents’ serve in the eighth game to triumph 6-3. In the tiebreaker, Chan and Kudermetova took a 3-0 lead before their opponents clawed back two points, but
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