Saturday, July 26, 2014

Century 21 Ladies Saturday: Yun-Jye Wei Takes Slim Lead on Bo-Mee Lee, Sun-Ju Ahn, Misuzu Narita

Taiwanese veteran Yun-Jye Wei birdied 3 holes in a row late in the 2nd round of the Century 21 Ladies to post her 2nd-straight 67 and take a 1 shot-lead on Bo-Mee Lee (66) and a 2-shot lead on Sun-Ju Ahn (71), Misuzu Narita (66), Asako Fujimoto (70), and Megumi Kido (67).  Erika Kikuchi shot a 67 of her own to catch Ji-Min Lee at -7, while the low round of the day belonged to Kotono Kozuma, an 8-birdie 65 that brought her within 4 shots of the lead, tied with the likes of Esther Lee, Na-Ri Lee, Ritsuko Ryu, and Kaori Ohe.

With big names like Rikako Morita and Shiho Oyama at -4, Mi-Jeong Jeon, Momoko Ueda, and Yumiko Yoshiba at -3, and Miki Saiki at -1, they'll each have to try to post a score early and put pressure on the leaders.

Wei was a regular in the top 30 on the JLPGA money list from 2002 to 2008, with 2 top-10 finishes during that stretch, her best coming in 2006 when she won twice on tour.  She has 4 JLPGA wins in all, but the last came way back in 2010, so we'll have to see how she handles the pressure of facing off in the last group against Lee, a 6-time winner, and Narita, a 5-time winner.  They'll all get front-row seats on Ahn's play from the group right in front of them.  Most likely it'll be a showdown tomorrow between the players in the top 3 spots on the JLPGA money list, but as we've seen during the International Crown, pretty much anything can happen over the course of 18 holes!

No comments: