Defending champion Young Kim birdied 5 of her 1st 7 holes to jump out to an early lead in the Nichi-Iko Ladies, but finished bogey-double-par to open the door to a host of players. Leading the charge was Sakura Yokomine, who shot a bogey-free 65, and Maiko Wakabayashi, whose 31 on the back lifted her into a tie for the lead with the player who looks like she's peaking at just the right time for Team Japan in the LPGA's International Crown. Meanwhile, KLPGA transplant Yeon-Ju Jung fired her best round as a JLPGA member, a 7-birdie 66 that left her tied with 6-time winner Akane Iijima 1 shot behind the co-leaders. Ritsuko Ryu, 20-year-old Rie Tsuji, and 22-in-2-days Natsuka Hori all made it into the mid-60s, as well, shooting 67s with 1, 2, and 0 bogeys, respectively.
With many big-name players taking the week off to prepare for the Women's British Open, you have to look lower on the leader board to find the remaining well-known players: Teresa Lu shot a 70, Bo-Mee Lee a 71, Yumiko Yoshida a 72, and Yuko Mitsuka withdrew. That leaves former top players like Bo-Bae Song (70), Shinobu Moromizato (72), and Hyun-Ju Shin (72) amid a sea of players like Wakabayashi, who have shown glimpses of greatness but haven't sustained it: Na-Ri Lee, Miki Sakai, and Lala Anai at -3, Junko Omoto, Hiromi Mogi, and Kaori Ohe at -2, Na-Ri Kim, Mayu Hattori, and Yukari Baba at -1, Saiki Fujita and Erika Kikuchi at E, Esther Lee at +1, Rui Kitada, Ji-Woo Lee, and Kumiko Kaneda at +2, Yun-Jye Wei and Yuki Sakurai at +3, and Kaori Aoyama at +6.
So Yokomine has a great opportunity to make a big statement on the eve of the Women's British Open. Let's see how she does on the weekend!
5 comments:
Hi, I've just noticed that Rikako Morita has been replaced by Mamiko Higa in Japan's International Crown team. Any ideas why? I was so looking forward to seeing Morita.
No idea why--I hadn't even heard! Will look into it. Thanks!
All LPGA.com mentioned was a "scheduling conflict" for Morita. It's not like she needs to defend a JLPGA title in July, so I have no idea what that means or whether it's a code for something else. I was surprised to read that Shiho Oyama turned down the spot. Nice thing about Higa playing is that she's the 3rd Okinawan player on the team. But she's not having a good 2014....
Ok thanks for that. Too bad Morita isn't playing cos I really love her smooth swing & was looking forward to seeing her on the big stage. Never mind
Basically there is a new event on the schedule Century 21 Ladies and of course the JLPGA would want last year's #1 playing... They would never allow Morita & Yokomine to miss a new event.
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