Friday, September 13, 2013

Konica Minolta Cup Friday: Bo-Mee Lee and Mamiko Higa Rise to the Top

19-year-old Mamiko Higa and 25-year-old Bo-Mee Lee fired the 2 lowest rounds of the day during the 2nd round of the JLPGA's 2nd major, the Konica Minolta Cup, Higa a 5-birdie 68 and Lee a 4-birdie 69 that was matched only by Teresa Lu (who needed an eagle on the par -5 6th to do it).  The only 2 players in the field to put together 2 sub-70 rounds in a row, Higa and Lee lead the tournament at -7, followed by Erina Hara and 1st-round leader Miki Sakai at -5, Lu at -4, living legend Yuri Fudoh at -3, and Rui Kitada, Yuki Ichinose, Yuko Fukuda, and Mami Fukuda at -2.  Na-Ri Lee at -1 would be much closer to the lead were it not for her triple bogey on the tough 18th.

Speaking of tough days, the cut line fell at +5, which knocked out the likes of Saiki Fujita, Kaori Ohe, Hyun-Ju Shin, Tamie Durdin, Maiko Wakabayashi, Erika Kikuchi, Yuki Sakurai, and Da-Ye Na.  Even worse, Miki Saiki was DQed and Young Kim had to withdraw due to injuries.

With only 13 players under par and 25 at par or better (including Sun-Ju Ahn, Sakura Yokomine, and Rikako Morita), nobody who made the cut it out of it.  Should be an interesting weekend in a tournament that historically has seen winner's scores lower than where Higa and Lee are at the halfway point.

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