Saturday, February 1, 2014

Lydia Ko Trails Anya Alvarez by 2 in NZ Open

American Anya Alvarez fired a bogey-free 66 in the 2nd round of the ISPS Handa New Zealand Open to get to -8 and take a 2-shot lead on world #4 Lydia Ko into tomorrow's final round.  Ko, who's fighting a stomach bug, made 5 birdies but missed makeable par saves on 9 and 18.  Also in the hunt are American Beth Allen (68, -5), KLPGA Rookie of the Year favorite Kyu-Jung Baek (69, -5), 1st-round co-leader Seonwoo Bae (71, -5), Hyun Soo Kim (66, -4), and Jessica Speechley (70, -4).  With the likes of Charley Hull, Kristie Smith, Marta Silva Zamora, and Sally Watson at -2, anything can happen.

Here are some other notables' scores:
  • -1 Lindsey Wright (70), Cathryn Bristow (71), Stacey Keating (72)
  • E Linda Wessberg (71), Christel Boeljon (72), Nikki Campbell (72), Mi Hyang Lee (72), Caroline Martens (73), Jean Chua (73)
  • +1 Cecelia Cho (72), Stephanie Na (73)
  • +2 Lorie Kane (72), Xi Yu Lin (72), Laura Davies (74), Melissa Reid (74), Sarah-Jane Smith (77)
Teenage amateur Shelly Shin fired a 68 to make the cut, but many good golfers missed the cut this week, including Gwladys Nocera, Cheyenne Woods, Amelia Lewis, Daniela Holmqvist, Joanna Klatten, Frances Bondad, Ashley Ona, Tamie Durdin, Minea Blomqvist, Valentine Derrey, Sophie Gustafson, Katie Futcher, Julia Boland, and Carly Booth, while Sarah Kemp withdrew.

Let's see if Ko can keep her legend growing tomorrow!

[Update 1 (5:47 am): Frances Bondad just announced her retirement on twitter!
Best wishes on what's next for her!]

1 comment:

Colin N.Z said...

Looks like the new Callaway Kid might defend another title. Great bogey free 6 under round by Anya Alvarez yesterday though. Very little if any wind today so we may see some low scores. Thanks to you Bruce and the other blog sites for covering our tournament here. Perhaps that might show N.Z Golf that there is interest in it outside N.Z. I've already made my comments on the lack of TV coverage here.