ANZ Ladies Masters Friday: Wow! Smith Shoots 62 Down Under!

Kristie Smith fired a ten-under 62 to take the lead--at least for now--in the ANZ Ladies Masters at -9, 1 shot up on Katherine Hull, 2 shots up on Lee-Ann Pace and Ursula Wikstrom, 3 up on Ji-Yai Shin, and 4 up on Alison Walshe. But don't look now--the JLPGA's own Nikki Campbell is -4 in her first 6 holes to pull within 2 of the lead and the KLPGA's sophomore sensation So Yeon Ryu is -4 over her first 12 to get within 4. More as the afternoon groups come in!

[Update 1 (3:39 am): Campbell did it! Her 65 vaulted her 1 shot ahead of Smith. Here are the leaders and notables:

1st/-10 Nikki Campbell (69-65)
2nd/-9 Kristie Smith (73-62)
3rd/-8 Katherine Hull (69-67)
T4/-7 Ursula Wikstrom (68-69), Lee-Ann Pace (67-70)
T6/-6 Ji-Yai Shin (69-69), Rebecca Flood (69-69)
T8/-5 So Yeon Ryu (71-68), Alison Walshe (69-70), Carmen Alonso (68-71), Marianne Skarpnord (67-72)

T12/-4 Beatriz Recari (73-67), Aram Cho (72-68), Samantha Head (70-70), Mollie Fankhauser (70-70), Frances Bondad (70-70), Becky Brewerton (67-73)
T20/-3 Sarah Kemp (73-68), Hee Kyung Seo (72-69), Stephanie Na (72-69), Ai Miyazato (71-70), Lindsey Wright (71-70), Anna Rawson (71-70), Tamie Durdin (70-71), Haeji Kang (69-72), Beth Allen (69-72), Il-Hee Lee (67-74)
T32/-2 Titiya Plucksataporn (74-68), Smriti Mehra (73-69), Nikki Garrett (72-70), Sarah Oh (70-72), Gwladys Nocera (69-73)
T39/-1 Nina Reis (75-68), Melissa Reid (74-69), Lorie Kane (71-72), Ya Ni Tseng (71-72), Bo Bae Park (71-72), Karrie Webb (70-73), Rachel Hetherington (70-73),
T50/E Tania Elosegui (74-70), Linda Wessberg (72-72), Anne-Lise Caudal (72-72), He Yong Choi (70-74)
T57/+1 Trish Johnson (75-70), Wendy Doolan (73-73), Sarah-Jane Smith (73-72), Diana D'Alessio (72-73)
T63/+2 Laura Davies (79-67), Bettina Hauert (76-70), Beth Bader (73-73), Rebecca Hudson (72-74), Christel Boeljon (72-74), Lotta Wahlin (71-75)

T77/+3 Brandie Burton (78-69), Yuki Sakurai (73-74)
T87/+4 Michelle Ellis (75-73), Martina Eberl (74-74), Rebecca Coakley (74-74)
T97/+5 Chie Arimura (77-72)
T103/+6 Sunny Park (78-72), Emma Zackrisson (78-72)
T119/+8 Lisa Hall (78-74), Riko Higashio (75-77), Maria Verchenova (74-78)
T134/+11 Kiran Matharu (76-79)

Nice charge by Burton, but not as successful as those by Davies and Hauert. Wonder when Tseng will start feeling better enough to play the kind of golf she's capable of. Would also be nice to see the vets Webb, Hetherington, and Kane make a move. Very nice to see Miyazato, Wright, and Rawson shoot 2 straight under-par rounds. Let's see if they can go low on moving day. I expect to see Hull, Shin, and Walshe at the top of the leaderboard tomorrow. Just a feeling.

Here's the LET's feature on Smith's round.]

[Update 2 (3:48 am): Real roller-coaster round for Ai-chan: -3 through 12 and playing great, but then gets on a bogey train for 3 holes and finishes with 2 birdies in a row. Yeesh! Good to see she's averaging 4.5 birdies per round--I think it bodes well for the weekend. A bogey on the par-5 9th cost Sakurai a chance to play on the weekend. Ouch!]

[Update 3 (3:55 am): You think the Aussie media is happy about the leaderboard? Let's see--yup!]

[Update 4 (4:00 am): Here are the post-round interviews.]