Taiwan’s Yani Tseng moved into the second spot at the LPGA State Farm Classic after shooting a six-under-par 66 in the second round on Friday to finish the day at 11-under.
Tseng struck five birdies on the front nine and three on the back nine, despite bogeys at the 13th hole and the 15th, to finish tied for second place at the Panther Creek Country Club in Springfield, Illinois.
Tseng is currently two shots behind American Mindy Kim, who held on to her lead in the tournament with a second-round 67 to finish at 13-under.
Photo: AFP
Tseng played the first two rounds with Kim.
“She really pushes me hard to play better,” Tseng said. “She would get close and I want to get close, too. I don’t want to hit it out of range if she’s close. It’s very nice to have a player like that to compete with in the same group.”
“I think I hit much closer today, so I had a lot more birdie chances today than yesterday,” Tseng said in an interview after the match.
“I had eight birdies and two bogeys that I don’t think I should have made,” she added. “I just lost a little focus, but I had a great round.”
Tseng is currently tied with China’s Shanshan Feng in second, while South Korea’s Shin Ji-yai is in fourth at 10-under.
Taiwan’s Amy Hung is currently in 69th at one-under, while Candie Kung failed to meet the cut, finishing one-over.
Kim, winless in two seasons on the LPGA Tour, said she has struggled with focus after bad holes, but thinks she’s maturing and managing herself better on the course. The American proved it on Friday, quickly rebounding from a bogey on the par-four 10th — her opening hole of the round.
“I would just get angry. I mean if I made a stupid bogey, which, on No. 10, it really was,” Kim said. “Honestly, in the past I just didn’t practice in my offseason. I would just hang out with my friends and I think I did a little too much of that. This offseason, I cut out a lot of time for golf. I spent a lot of time on the golf course preparing myself mentally with my new coach.”
“If I make bogey, I can’t go back and make par, right? Just have to get over it,” she added.
Shin had a hole-in-one on the par-three second hole en route to a 68 to reach 10-under.
She made a 50-foot putt for birdie on the second on Thursday, then had a hole-in-one on the 146-yard hole.
“It’s my favorite hole,” Shin said. “I can’t wait for tomorrow.”
She used an eight-iron.
“I couldn’t see the hole, but the reaction of the gallery, they were screaming,” said Shin, who has eight lifetime aces. “Watching the ball flight, I thought it might get close.”
Amanda Blumenhurst (67) was nine-under and Brittany Lincicome, coming off a victory last Sunday in New Jersey, had a 69 to join Paula Creamer (68) and Jennifer Johnson (67) at eight-under.
Defending champion Cristie Kerr (67) topped a large group at seven-under. Michelle Wie was eight strokes back at five-under, following an opening 72 with a 67.
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was
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