...look for yourself. Song-Hee Kim broke 70 for the second day in a row to get to -11; Sun Young Yoo fired a bogey-free 65 to get to -8; Hee Young Park had a couple of hiccups on the back that pulled down to -7 for the tournament; and Karine Icher fired a bogey-free 66 to get to -5 (and would be much better if she could have avoided twin double bogeys as she made the turn from the back to the front Thursday). But Lorena Ochoa has birdied 4 of her first 7 holes to not only be tied already with Kim for the lead, but also to be pulling ahead of her closest competitors in the afternoon pairings, like Inbee Park (despite rattling off 5 birdies on the last 7 holes on the back, she's still "only" -3 for the day and -7 for the tournament) and Na Yeon Choi (whose 2 bogeys on the back almost completely offset her 3 birdies--she's stuck at -5 thus far).
Just barely breaking 70 once or twice doesn't cut it when Ochoa's in the field is the bottom line here.
[Update 1 (11:42 pm): Wow! Was Inbee Park reading this blog between 9s? Part of my surprise at her 64 stems from yet another LPGA.com screw-up--it was only 1 bogey on the back, not 2. But to follow up on a 33 there with an Ochoa-like 31 on the front--comprising her 6th through 10th birdies of the day--is awesome! Still, at -13 she trails Ochoa by a stroke. For the second straight day, Ochoa posted a 66; although this one had "only" 1 eagle, it also was bogey-free. Na Yeon Choi picked up the pace, as well, finishing with a 68; although she still lost 2 shots to Ochoa, she gained on most of the field and finished the day at -9 for the tournament, alone in 4th. So heading into the weekend we can say that 5 Young Guns from South Korea still have a chance to keep up with Ochoa, but, amazingly, all are likely to have to pick up the pace to keep from falling further behind.
As for the rest of the field, the only people celebrating are the ones who somehow made the cut at +7--congrats in particular to Amy Yang, Danielle Downey, and Louise Stahle. But it was a day of disappointment (77 for Ji Young Oh? 76 for Moira Dunn??) and frustration (73s for Sophie Gustafson, Carin Koch, and Jill McGill, 72 for Brittany Lincicome, 71 for Hee-Won Han) for many, even if the occasional good round (68 for Carolina Llano, 69s for Sophie Giquel, Kris Tamulis, Dina Ammaccapane, and Amie Cochran) sneaked through. The bottom line is the course is not as easy as the top 8 are making it look. Which is unfortunate for the 7 trailing Ochoa by 1-9 shots--they're much more likely to mess up than Ochoa is....]
[Update 2 (11:50 pm): The mighty Hound Dog not only does his usual bang-up job on the round two recap but also links to ESPN Deportes clips from Thursday's round!]
No comments:
Post a Comment