Kim In-kyung of South Korea birdied her final hole to card a one-over 73 and hold onto the lead by a stroke over Yani Tseng and Michelle Wie midway through the LPGA Thailand yesterday.
A day after firing a record-equaling 63 on the Pattaya Old Course at Siam Country Club, Kim struggled throughout the second round. She endured four bogeys on the front nine, earned her second and third birdies of the round on the 10th and 14th holes, dropped another shot on the 15th, then sank a six-foot birdie putt to finish with an eight-under 136 total.
By the end, her three-shot lead at the start of the day was trimmed to one over the top-ranked Tseng (71) and Wie (68).
“I pushed myself hard in the front nine. I had no rhythm and made mistakes,” Kim said.
“I didn’t know why and I didn’t know what to do. Maybe because of the pressure, but I played a solid back nine to get back to where I was. I didn’t think about the lead. I am happy that I still have the lead even though it was not a great round,” she said.
Wie began five shots behind Kim, but birdied the first hole and kept chipping away at Kim’s lead in a bogey-free round. She picked up two shots on the front nine, then successive birdies on 14 and 15 lifted the American into a tie for the lead at seven-under. However, Wie could only par her last three holes, missing a two-foot birdie putt on 18.
Wie shared the day’s best round of 68 with only two other players, Karrie Webb, who was at two under, and Anna Nordqvist of Sweden, at two-over.
“It was a good day, but I was hot,” Wie said. “This weekend I have to play well, not make errors and keep the energy level up.”
Tseng, winner of the Women’s Australian Open and Australian Ladies Masters in the last two weeks, overcame a double-bogey on the fifth hole to settle for second again. She canceled bogeys on the 11th and 14th and made a second successive birdie on the 16th to join Kim and Wie in the lead, until Kim’s superb finish.
US veteran Juli Inkster, tied for second with Tseng on Thursday, overcame three bogeys and a double-bogey with a birdie finish for a 73 to be three strokes off the lead alongside compatriot Paula Creamer (70), Japan’s Momoko Ueda (69), and South Korea’s Choi Na-yeon (70).
Taiwan’s Candie Kung had a disappointing second round, shooting a five-over 77.
Additional reporting by staff writer
NZ WOMEN’S OPEN
AP, CHRISTCHURCH, NEW ZEALAND
Overnight leader Giulia Sergas of Italy shot a three-under 69 to take a two-stroke lead after yesterday’s second round of the New Zealand Women’s Open golf tournament.
The 31-year-old, US-based Sergas led by three shots after a first-round 64 and had a two-round total of 11-under 133.
Kristie Smith of Australia was in second after a 64, posting nine birdies and a bogey in a round which lifted her nine places up the leaderboard.
Linda Wessberg of Sweden shot the day’s best round of 63 to sit in third place on nine-under 137, four shots behind Sergas.
Smith was a late starter on the tournament’s first day and struggled to a one-under 71 in strong winds. She made the best of an early tee time yesterday, with her only mistake a three-putt at the par-three 15th.
“That came out of the blue because I was playing well and had holed some great putts,” Smith said. “I didn’t really hit it close, but put it close with my wedges when I needed to and made the putts when I needed to.”
Thirteen-year-old New Zealand amateur Lydia Ko was among a group of four players in fourth place at six-under, along with British veteran and defending champion Laura Davies. Ko had a 68 yesterday and Davies shot 66.
AVANTHA MASTERS
AP, NEW DELHI
As of press time, Robert-Jan Derksen had lost his lead in the second round yesterday after the completion of the weather-interrupted first round of the Avantha Masters earlier in the day.
The 37-year-old Dutchman had shot a bogey-free six-under 66 on Thursday before darkness suspended play at DLF Golf and Country Club with 66 players yet to finish the round.
Derksen entered the second round with a one-stroke lead over a group of five players including England’s Mark Foster, Australian Darren Beck, Iain Steel of Malaysia, Spaniard Rafael Cabrera-Bello and Argentina’s Julio Zapata.
Cabrera-Bello has since taken the lead after shooting a three-under 69 in the second round.
The highlight of the first round came when Maarten Lafeber of the Netherlands shot a hole-in-one on the par-three 11th, before finishing with a 69. He won a new car for his ace.
“It was 160m with the wind coming in a little bit off the right,” Lafeber said. “It was going straight for the flag, but we couldn’t tell if it was in or just very close. We were all looking and wondering until the crowd started clapping and jumping around so then we knew that it was in.”
Indian favorite Jeev Milkha Singh could have taken a share of the lead, but had to take a two-stroke penalty on Thursday, finishing with a four-under 68.
“After hitting the floodlighting tower from the tee on the 13th, I went on to play my second shot from the spot where the ball had landed after rebounding off the pole. That error cost me a two-stroke penalty,” Singh said. “I should have replayed that shot from the tee.”
Singh was still on the course in his second round at press time.
After going two-under 70 in the first round, Taiwan’s Lu Wei-chih shot two strokes better in the second round and now has a total of six-under 138 going into the third round.
The US$2.3 million Avantha Masters is co-sanctioned by the Asian and European tours.
ADDITIONAL REPORTING BY STAFF WRITER
Shohei Ohtani and his wife arrived in South Korea with his Los Angeles Dodgers teammates yesterday ahead of their season-opening games with the San Diego Padres next week. Ohtani, wearing a black training suit and a cap backwards, was the first Dodgers player who showed up at the arrival gate of Incheon International Airport, west of Seoul. His wife, Mamiko Tanaka, walked several steps behind him. As a crowd of fans, many wearing Dodgers jerseys, shouted his name and cheered slogans, Ohtani briefly waved his hand, but did not say anything before he entered a limousine bus with his wife. Fans held placards
Taiwan’s Tai Tzu-ying yesterday advanced to the quarter-finals at the All England Open, beating Kim Ga-eun of South Korea 21-17, 21-15. With the win, Tai earned a semi-final against China’s He Bingjiao, who beat Michelle Li of Canada 21-9, 21-9. Defending champion An Se-young defeated India’s P.V. Sindhu 21-19, 21-11. An on Wednesday cruised into the second round, unlike last year’s men’s winner, Li Shifeng, who suffered a shock defeat. South Korea’s An, the world No. 1, overcame Taiwan’s Hsu Wen-chi 21-17, 21-16 to set up the match against Sindhu. In other women’s singles matches, Taiwan’s Sung Shuo-yun lost 21-18, 24-22 against Carolina Marin of
EYEING TOP SPOT: A victory in today’s final against Storm Hunter and Katerina Siniakova would return 38-year-old Hsieh Su-wei to the world No. 1 ranking Taiwan’s Hsieh Su-wei and Elise Mertens on Thursday secured a spot in the women’s doubles finals at the BNP Paribas Open after dispatching Nicole Melichar-Martinez of the US and Australia’s Ellen Perez 6-2, 7-6 (7/5) at Indian Wells. Hsieh and her Belgian partner Mertens, who won the Australian Open in late January, coasted through the first set after breaking their opponents’ serve twice, but found the going tougher in the second. Both pairs could only muster one break point over 12 games, neither of which were converted, leaving the set to be decided by a tiebreaker. Hsieh and Mertens took a 6-3 lead,
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