South African Ashleigh Buhai on Friday continued to find herself in uncharted territory, extending her lead to three strokes after the second round at the Women’s British Open.
She compiled a bogey-free five-under-par 67 at Woburn to head a leaderboard that included players from seven nations in the top eight.
Buhai, having never led a major before this week and without a top-25 finish, posted a 12-under 132 halfway total.
Photo: Reuters
Japan’s Hinako Shibuno shot 69 for second place on nine-under, with American Lizette Salas (67) another shot back in third.
Buhai, 30, is trying to deal with the pressure by treating the championship as just another week in the office.
“I’m trying not to keep thinking it’s a major,” she said. “It’s something I’ve been working on the last few weeks, because I’ve been under the gun, whether it be making the cut or having three good rounds and one bad round.”
Shibuno, 20, in her first LPGA appearance, showcased the skills that have garnered her two Japan LPGA victories this year.
Salas birdied the first four holes to challenge for the lead, but could add only one more the rest of the way.
Local favorite Charley Hull was tied for fourth on her home course, five shots behind.
Far from enjoying the gallery support, Hull sounded ambivalent.
“I sometimes like being the underdog,” she said. “When I play Solheim [Cup] I prefer playing in America, where the crowd’s cheering against you.”
Compatriot and defending champion Georgia Hall and last week’s Evian Championship major winner Ko Jin-young of South Korea were six back.
The crowd had plenty cause for optimism with three English youngsters — Hull, Hall and Bronte Law — inside the top 10.
The trio have been friends for years, all featuring in the same English under-13 squads when they had dreams of turning professional and playing in the British Open.
Seven-time major champion Park In-bee and former world No. 1s Ryu So-yeon and Lydia Ko were among those who missed the cut.
Teresa Lu of Taiwan improved to 36th on one-under after carding a 70 for the round, while compatriot Hsu Wei-ling failed to make the weekend.
Additional reporting by staff writer and AFP
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
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
Taiwanese gymnast Lee Chih-kai failed to secure an Olympic berth in the pommel horse following a second-place finish at the last qualifier in Doha on Friday, a performance that Lee and his coach called “unconvincing.” The Tokyo Olympics silver medalist finished runner-up in the final after scoring 6.6 for degree of difficulty and 8.800 for execution for a combined score of 15.400. That was just 0.100 short of Jordan’s Ahmad Abu Al Soud, who had qualified for the event in Paris before the Apparatus World Cup series in Qatar’s capital. After missing the final rounds in the first two of four qualifier