Yokomine was 1 shot behind Song at the start of their rounds Sunday and playing in the group ahead of her. Her birdie on the par-4 2nd hole tied her with Song at -7, but Song's bogey on the same hole vaulted Yokomine into the lead. Even though she birdied the par-5 5th, Song's eagle on the same hole brought her even with Yokomine at -8. Yokomine proceeded to birdie the par-4 5th and 9th holes to go out in 32 and take a 1-shot lead on Song at the turn, as she could only manage a single birdie on the par-5 7th. Even though Yokomine continued her birdie run on the 11th and 12th, Song made up ground on her with an eagle on the 11th and a birdie on the 12th (her first of the day on a par 4).
Meanwhile, the rest of the field failed to keep pace with the duelling leaders. Only 3 players in the top 25 could match even Song's front-side 34, but they were so far back in the pack at the start of the day they may not even end up with top 20s to show for their fast starts. Most of the really big names in Japanese women's golf have been left in the dust. Momoko Ueda, the top-ranked Japanese golfer in the world, started off with 2 birdies in her first 5 holes to be 2 shots behind Yokomine, but only 1 birdie in her next 12 holes, offset by a bogey on the par-3 8th, ended her hopes of a come-from-behind victory; at -7 through 17, she has an outside chance of a second-place finish. Yuri Fudoh, the #2 Japanese golfer in the world, played terribly, shooting a 75 to fall back to E on the tournament (currently T37). Shiho Ohyama, the #4 Japanese golfer behind Yokomine (and playing in her group), has 3 birdies and 3 bogeys through her first 14 holes, to remain at -6 (currently T8). Their playing partner Mi-Jeong Jeon is currently T2 at -8, thanks to birdies on the 12th and 13th following offsetting pairs of birdies and bogeys in the previous 11 holes; thanks to Miki Saiki's bogey on the par-4 14th, Jeon is one shot ahead of the player immediately following her in the world rankings. And she is even farther ahead of Shinobu Moromizato, who made her third bogey of the day on the 13th hole to fall back to +1 on the day and -4 for the tournament (currently T12), tied with her closest rival in the rankings, Akiko Fukushima, who has had even worse troubles, thanks to a double bogey-bogey stretch on the back.
It's been the less-established JLPGA stars who have surprised on the upside this week. Eun-A Lim, who hasn't even played enough events worldwide to qualify for the Golfweek/Sagarin Performance Index, recovered from a lackluster 36 on the front with birdies on 3 of the first 4 holes on the back to vault into a tie for second place with Jeon. The unheralded Orie Fujino finds herself in rarefied territory; playing in the final group with Song and tied with Ueda and Saiki in 5th, she is acquitting herself much better than Michie Ohba (+4 through 13). Nahoko Hirao's 70 has given her a good chance for a top-10 finish; she is currently T8 at -6 with Ohyama, Koga, and the only-slightly-better-known Yun-Jye Wei.
The JLPGA site stops live updates down the stretch, so I'll be back with the final results when they're posted. Will Bo-Bae Song become the first Seoul Sister to break through for a win in 2008, or will Yokomine establish herself as the front-runner in the race for player of the year on the JLPGA?
[Update 1 (4:33 am): Song did it! Birdies on 15 and 18 coupled with Yokomine bogeys on the two holes in between made it a 4-shot victory. Let the rejoicing begin at Seoul Sisters nation!]
[Update 2 (4:42 am): Here's the top 10:
#1/-14 Bo-Bae Song (宋 ボベ, #73 RR/#82 GSPI) 70-67-65
#2/-10 Sakura Yokomine (横峯さくら, #20 RR/#29 GSPI) 70-68-68
T3/-9 Eun-A Lim (イム ウナ, #87 RR/n.r. GSPI) 69-70-68, Miki Saiki (佐伯 三貴, #34 RR/#34 GSPI) 69-69-69
T5/-7 Momoko Ueda (上田 桃子, #12 RR/#7 GSPI) 68-71-70, Mi-Jeong Jeon (全 美 貞 [ｼﾞｮﾝ ﾐ ｼﾞｮﾝ], #22 RR/#36 GSPI) 71-67-71, Miho Koga (古閑 美保, #43 RR/#45 GSPI) 63-75-71
T8/-6 Nahoko Hirao 68-72-70, Shiho Ohyama (大山 志保, #24 RR/#33 GSPI) 68-70-72, Orie Fujino 70-67-73]
[Update 3 (4:56 am): Other notables:
T11/-5 Yun-Jye Wei (ウェイ ユンジェ, #65 RR/#132 GSPI) 71-68-72
T13/-4 Ayako Uehara (上原 彩子, #107 RR/#130 GSPI) 74-68-70, Kaori Higo (肥後かおり, #105/#143 GSPI) 70-72-70
T18/-3 Midori Yoneyama (米山みどり, #83 RR/#137 GSPI) 73-72-68, Shinobu Moromizato (諸見里しのぶ, #44 RR/#40 GSPI) 69-70-74, Akiko Fukushima (福嶋 晃子, #41 RR/#56 GSPI) 69-69-75
T26/-2 Mie Nakata (中田 美枝, #63 RR/#76 GSPI) 72-70-72, Na Zhang (張 娜 [ﾁｬﾝ ﾅ], #21 RR/#55 GSPI) 71-71-72
T34/-1 Erina Hara (原 江里菜, #55 RR/#120 GSPI) 72-72-71
T37/E Hyun-Ju Shin (辛 炫 周 [ｼﾝ ﾋｮﾝ ｼﾞｭ], #42 RR/#46 GSPI) 73-70-73, Yui Kawahara (川原 由維, #77 RR/#63 GSPI) 69-73-74, Yuri Fudoh (不動 裕理, #17 RR/#9 GSPI) 70-71-75
T42/+1 Yuko Mitsuka (三塚 優子, #54 RR/#115 GSPI) 68-76-73
T45/+2 Chie Arimura (有村 智恵, #60 RR/#84 GSPI) 75-70-73, Michiko Hattori (服部 道子, #99 RR/#116 GSPI) 70-73-75
T47/+3 Hiromi Mogi (茂木 宏美, #70 RR/#74 GSPI) 71-74-74
T50/+5 Yukari Baba (馬場ゆかり, #101 RR/#83 GSPI) 73-71-77
53/+9 Saiki Fujita (藤田 幸希, #100 RR/#131 GSPI) 66-78-81]
[Update 4 (5:32 am): How would you like to close out a tournament with a hole-in-one/par/eagle finish?! That's how Midori Yoneyama snagged her first top 20 of the season! Kind of overshadows Na Zhang's birdie-par-birdie-bogey-eagle finish, eh?]
1 comment:
Waggle Roomed this.
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