On a warmer and windier day in Tulsa, the scores are still pretty high and nobody seems to be distancing themselves from the field. Even Mi Hyun Kim, who fired off 5 birdies in her last 10 holes, could only manage a 68, which makes her the leader in the clubhouse at -3. Despite an early eagle, first-round leader Nicole Castrale has been caught by Stephanie Louden, who held the lead after birdieing 3 of her first 7 holes to get to -5 but who stands at -4 after bogeying 8, as well as by Angela Stanford and Karin Sjodin, who have only 2 holes left to play, and Brandie Burton, who is playing with Louden. Thanks to an eagle-birdie start, world #1 Lorena Ochoa is now -4 for the tournament, as well. Morgan Pressel, who birdied 2 of her first 3 holes but gave a stroke away on the 5th, stands at -2 with two other golfers.
But plenty of people have started hot this tournament and seen their rounds fizzle: Se Ri Pak got it to -4 early on today but has fallen back to -1 with 1 hole left in her round, which is more than Gloria Park can say, having also gotten to -4 but now standing at +1 with 1 hole to go; Mikaela Parmalid got it to -3 through 25 holes but ended the day at -1 (T12 so far); and let's not forget that yesterday Angela Stanford had the best round of the day going at -5 through 12 but proceeded to bogey 3 of her final 6 holes.
But fizzling is not inevitable: Katherine Hull shot a fine 33 on the back 9 today to get to -2 and tied for 8th thus far; Young Kim shot a smooth 34 on the front 9, her final 9 today, to tie Kim for the best round of the day so far at 68 and climb to E on the tournament (T20 as of now); Teresa Lu fired a 32 on the back 9 to get back to +1 for the tournament (T34 so far).
Ai-chan had another up-and-down round today but stands at E for the tournament. Moira is E through her first 3 on the back. More later!
[Update 1 (4:48 am): Well, with Castrale, Stanford, and Sjodin in at -4, Stanford falling back to -3 after a bogey on 17, and Pak bouncing back to -2 with a birdie on the tough 18th, it's up to Louden (-5 after her second consecutive 33), Brandie Burton (-4 after a 35 on the front), Ochoa (who dropped back to -3 after a bogey on 8), and perhaps Song, Rankin, or Pressel (all -2 for the tournament) to try to pass the leaders in the clubhouse. Of them, only Louden, Burton, and Song have a realistic chance of being the first player to break 70 both days (Angela Park has an outside chance but after a 37 on the front would need a fantastic back). So it's entirely possible Ai-chan, who now only has 32 players at or ahead of her and who may end up not losing any ground on the leaders today, could still win this thing! Unfortunately for Moira, she's +1 through 4 holes and probably 2 shots over the eventual cut line right now.]
[Update 2 (6:24 am): Well, well, well. Louden and Rankin are playing well today and Nirapathpongporn has caught Ochoa--but all of them still have to deal with the tough closing holes. The crazy thing is that there are only 17 people ahead of Ai-chan right now--and there may be fewer under par in a couple of hours. Plus the cut line looks like it may go back to +4, which means that after her triple, Moira now has to go low on the front, like 4-under her last 8 holes low. Yeesh.]
[Update 3 (6:43 am): Yeesh is right. Since my last update, Lorena doubled, Louden bogeyed, Pressel bogeyed, Song bogeyed....]
[Update 4 (1:52 pm): Here's the second round summary and leader board. And here are the third round pairings. As you can see, nobody achieved escape velocity today and the tournament is wide open. Nicole Castrale got to -6 on each side but ended at -4; Stephanie Louden did the same on the back, with the same result; Karin Sjodin needed two consecutive late birdies to get back to -4; and Reilly Rankin was the only co-leader not to make a bogey. Angela Stanford wasn't able to keep it at -4 and despite the late birdie barrage I mentioned earlier Mi Hyun Kim was never able to get there. Among those at -2, Katherine Hull's bogey-free round was the exception to the rule: Pak got it to -4 early on and Nirapathpongporn to -3 late in her round. Among the seven players at -1, Meena Lee was the exception that proved the rule: Burton and Ochoa peaked at -4 (Ochoa once on each side), Parmlid and Song peaked at -3, and Inkster and Park at -2. The same goes for most everyone else: the course is just tough, especially the last two holes on each side. There are now only 24 people at or under par, and only 16 ahead of Ai-chan. You don't want to leave the door open for someone who's won 14 times in her career, but that's just what the leaders have done. We'll see tomorrow if Ai-chan can make an early charge.
On the bright side for many, the cut line rose to +5--among those saved were Julieta Granada, Laura Davies, and Hye Jung Choi, but it wasn't nearly enough to save Moira, who had her worst tournament of the year (although it can't be as disappointing to her as to defending champion Cristie Kerr and #2-on-the-money-list Brittany Lincicome, who tied her at +9--and there were still 20 players who finished worse than that, Kyeong Bae among them). Perhaps onechans's fever is in honor of the high scores and wet, windy weather this week in Tulsa. Here's hoping the tornados stay away from Oklahoma. Oh, and in the interest of gender equity, here's the men's leader board. Some no names like Rory, Arron, Vijay, Steve, Ken, and Phil are trying to beat this guy who goes by the tag of "Tiger" but who finished bogey-bogey to let them all back in the tournament. Must mean something to somebody.]
[Update 5 (2:18 pm): Just a few things I picked up from the interviews. Expect bad weather tomorrow--it'll be a game of endurance and dealing with the elements, which brings back everybody at +2 or better (although obviously the further behind you are the beter you have to play and the worse those ahead of you have to--if the weather's anything like the last day of the Ginn Open, you can expect to see a lot happening in the final 4 holes! Co-leader Stephanie Louden was the 4th alternate for the tournament and only got 10 minutes to warm up before her round Friday. Sjodin doesn't wear contacts even though she needs glasses, but she sounds confident and has won internationally, even though nobody (even her) mentioned it when the interviewers raised the inexperience of the leaders. Stanford doesn't feel the course sets up well for her. See you tomorrow early!]
1 comment:
that painful giving up bogey feeling, one right after the other. So many lost opportunities without much chance, on this course, to get them back. Should be very interesting tomorrow. I haven't check in for a bit, but did Tulmis stay at -1, or get below???? She had a good late round, versus the field, almost all of whom were in the clubhouse.
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