Saturday, September 5, 2009

Warning: Shootout in Process at the Golf5 Ladies

What else to call it when all of the top 5 JLPGA players in the field at the Golf5 Ladies are within 2 shots of each other at the top of the leaderboard heading into the last 6 holes on moving day? Sakura Yokomine has come out of her mini-funk the last few events with a bang, opening with a bogey-free 65 and making her 2nd birdie in her last 4 holes on the par-4 13th hole to tie money-list leader Shinobu Moromizato at -8. 3 birdies in her 1st 8 holes by Mi-Jeong Jeon and 2 in her 1st 10 by Miho Koga put them only 1 back, while Chie Arimura has been stalled at -6 since the 5th hole. As the Saturday tv coverage begins in Japan and the live scoring page temporarily stops updating, the co-leaders are playing in the final pairing and like Koga have 5 holes to go, while Jeon has 3 to play and Arimura has 4. Let's see if they can separate themselves from Yui Kawahara (-7 through 15), Maiko Wakabayashi (-6 through 13), Kumiko Kaneda (-5 after a 69), and the other 8 players within 3 shots of the lead right now.

[Update 1 (1:36 am): Looks like another shootout's in progress on the KLPGA right now, too!]

[Update 2 (2:25 am): Ryo Ishikawa holds a 2-shot lead on the JGTO as he enters his final 3 holes, but a 3-hole bogey train has given his pursuers hope.]

[Update 3 (10:58 am): Here's how they stand heading into the final round tomorrow:

T1/-8 Mi-Jeong Jeon (68-68), Yui Kawahara (68-68), Shinobu Moromizato (67-69), Miho Koga (67-69), Sakura Yokomine (65-71)
6th/-7 Yuko Saitoh (67-69)
T7/-6 Kaori Aoyama (70-68), Tomomi Hirose (70-68), Chie Arimura (68-70), Maiko Wakabayashi (68-70), Kurumi Dohi (67-71)

Only a final-hole double bogey kept Arimura from playing in one of the last 2 groups tomorrow.

T12/-5 Miki Saiki (75-65), Kumiko Kaneda (70-69), Eun-A Lim (69-70), Hiromi Mogi (69-70), Hyun-Ju Shin (69-70)
T18/-4 Na-Ri Lee (70-70), Mie Nakata (69-71), Yun-Jye Wei (69-71), Yukari Baba (68-72)
T27/-2 Ayako Uehara (73-69), Akane Iijima (73-69), Nikki Campbell (73-69), Mayu Hattori (73-69), Rui Kitada (72-70), Yuki Ichinose (71-71)
T36/-1 Bo-Bae Song (74-69), So-Hee Kim (73-70), Rikako Morita (72-71), Midori Yoneyama (70-73), Li-Ying Ye (70-73), Sakurako Mori (68-75)

Once again, a lot of good players missed the cut:

T59/+1 Erina Hara (72-73), Saiki Fujita (71-74)
T67/+2 Da-Ye Na (73-73)
T71/+3 Akiko Fukushima (76-71), Ai-Yu Tu (73-74), Mai Arai (73-74)
T81/+4 Esther Lee (76-72), Tamie Durdin (73-75)
T88/+6 Woo-Soon Ko (78-72)
WD Yuko Mitsuka (77-72)

Mitsuka, Hara, and Fukushima had better take advantage of the extra practice time heading into the JLPGA's 2nd major next week, the Konica Minolta Cup! As for the rest of the JLPGA's finest, it's all about going low tomorrow!]

[Update 4 (11:15 am): Speaking of going low, check out who's holding off So Yeon Ryu, Sun Ju Ahn, and Hee Kyung Seo so far on the KLPGA!]

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