Stanley Ladies Saturday: Ji-Hee Lee Stumbles, Eun-A Lim and Akiko Fukushima Step Up

After her walkoff bogey yesterday forced her to settle for an opening 67 in the Stanley Ladies, Ji-Hee Lee proceeded to bogey her 1st 2 holes today, then bogeyed another pair as she made the turn, and ended her day moving in entirely the wrong direction with a double bogey on the par-5 18th. The 1st-round leader's 75 (she did make 3 birdies on the front) opened the door for 9 players to make a move on her. Taking the biggest advantage of moving day was Eun-A Lim, who made 8 birdies and a double on the way to a 66 that brought her to -7 for the tournament. Despite her double on the 10th, Lim ended the day 1 shot ahead of Akiko Fukushima, who matched her 31 on the front but made 3 bogeys on the back--including 1 on (you guessed it) the 18th--to settle for her 2nd-straight 69. But with 15 players--including Lee--within 5 shots of the lead heading into the final round, this is still anyone's tournament.

Here are the contenders and notables:

1st/-7 Eun-A Lim (71-66)
2nd/-6 Akiko Fukushima (69-69)
3rd/-5 Ah-Reum Hwang (71-68)
4th/-4 Rui Kitada (69-71)
T5/-3 Mie Nakata (73-68), Yukari Baba (72-69), Sun-Ju Ahn (70-71), Na-Ri Kim (70-71), Kotono Kouzuma (70-71)
T10/-2 Erika Kikuchi (73-69), Shinobu Moromizato (71-71), Yoko Inoue (70-72), Na-Ri Lee (69-73), Ritsuko Ryu (69-73), Ji-Hee Lee (67-75)

T16/-1 Rikako Morita (74-69), Chie Arimura (73-70), Saiki Fujita (72-71), Akane Iijima (69-74)
T22/E Ji-Woo Lee (75-69), Kaori Aoyama (71-73), Ayako Uehara (70-74)
T27/+1 Maiko Wakabayashi (73-72), Hyun-Ju Shin (72-73),
T33/+2 Young Kim (70-76), Yuki Ichinose (70-76)
T44/+3 Jae-Hee Bae (74-73), Bo-Bae Song (73-74), Asako Fujimoto (71-76)

MC: Hiromi Mogi (71-77), Miho Koga (75-73), Yun-Jye Wei (74-75), Erina Hara (76-73), Nikki Campbell (76-74), Yuko Mitsuka (73-77), Mai Arai (74-77), Esther Lee (75-77), Li-Ying Ye (77-76), So-Hee Kim (81-78)

Not the most auspicious return to the JLPGA for Mitsuka. She shot a bogey-free 35 on the front but a birdie-less 41 on the back today and made only 3 birdies in 36 holes. But it's even more shocking that Miho Koga, the money-list leader just a couple of seasons ago, would miss the cut, especially after going -3 over her 1st 8 holes yesterday and -1 over holes 1 through 7 today. Their struggles, however, suggest that whoever plays the back the best will win the tournament tomorrow. Ex-LPGAer Na-Ri Kim is only 4 back!