Sandra Gal of Germany birdied five of the final eight holes on Friday for a five-under 67 and a one-stroke lead over Amy Yang in the Avnet LPGA Classic, the tour’s only event in a six-week stretch.
Gal, who won the Kia Classic last month in California for her first LPGA Tour title, had a seven-under 137 total on The Crossings course at the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail’s Magnolia Grove complex.
“Obviously, I’m playing well,” Gal said. “I’m just enjoying myself out there. I mean, I’m not doing anything really different. I’ve been playing solid since the end of last year. Just winning, you know, I think you get more comfortable at the top. Being in the lead is something. You know, to be there and feel comfortable there, so that’s probably the difference now.”
Photo: AFP
Gal bogeyed nine and 10 to fall to two-under for the tournament and even-par for the day, then birdied 11, 12, 13, 16 and 17 to top the leaderboard.
“It was kind of slow start,” Gal said. “Just made a couple bogeys, at nine, 10, and that was kind of like a turning point for me. I kind of got down on myself a little bit. Then I was like: ‘OK, let’s just play one shot at a time and be patient. The birdies are going to come.’ They did, so I was happy about that.”
Yang shot a 68. She bogeyed one and had eight straight pars, before grabbing birdies on 10, 12, 14, 16 and 17.
She credited her iron-play.
“My irons, mostly irons,” Yang said. “It was inside 10 feet, all five of my birdies.”
Stacy Lewis, coming off a major victory in the Kraft Nabisco, had a 71, leaving her two strokes back at five-under along with Karen Stupples (71) and Kim Song-hee (72).
“I scrambled around and just got the ball in the hole, and was pretty happy shooting one-under,” Lewis said. “It was just kind of up and down all day. I just had to fight.”
Defending champion Pak Se-ri, a three-time winner at Magnolia Grove, had a 71 to match Suzann Pettersen (68), Yoo Sun-young (68), Jenny Suh (69) and Sarah Kemp (70) at four-under.
Taiwan’s Candie Kung carded a 70 to sit in a group on two-under. Grace Park, tied for the first-round lead with Kim, followed her opening 67 with a 75 to also drop to two-under.
Michelle Wie missed the cut with rounds of 76 and 72.
Taiwan’s world No. 1 Yani Tseng and her compatriot Amy Hung also missed the cut.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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