So Yeon Ryu followed up
yesterday's tournament-record 63 with a 66 that extended her bogey-free run at the
Canadian Pacific Women's Open to 36 holes and counting and allowed her to open up a 5-shot lead on playing partner
Anna Nordqvist and a 6-shot lead on 2006 champion at the London Hunt and Country Club
Cristie Kerr as the afternoon wave began their rounds. The only player in the morning wave to score better than Ryu was
last week's runner-up,
Brittany Lincicome, who fired a 65 to get to -8 and whose own bogey-free streak is 25 holes and counting despite being dissatisfied with her driving as she came home on the front 9 today.
Of course, it took Lincicome 36 holes to get as many under par as
Na Yeon Choi had been after her 1st 18 of the week, but NYC just bogeyed the tough 5th hole to drop back to -7, which is where
Suzann Pettersen,
Azahara Munoz,
Harukyo Nomura, and
Belen Mozo ended their rounds today. 2-time defending champion
Lydia Ko birdied 2 of her last 3 holes today to reach the halfway point of the tournament at -5, 10 shots off the lead. Let's see how many golfers are between Ko and Ryu when the afternoon action is over. And whether the cut line gets as high as -2, which would make Ya Ni Tseng's closing 3-hole birdie train in vain and knock Mina Harigae, who fired a 5-birdie 68 today, out of the weekend. Right now there are 65 players at -2 or better and 82 at -1 or better....
[
Update 1 (5:40 pm): Seems like some players are really starting to figure out this course.
Lizette Salas made 6 birdies in her last 11 holes to post a bogey-free 66 and tie Lincicome at -8.
Chella Choi made 5 birdies in her last 12 holes to fight back to -2, which is sure to make the cut.
Moriya Jutanugarn birdied 5 of her last 15 holes to get back to -1, but will need some help for the cut line to fall there. There are currently 73 players at -2 or better.]
[
Update 2 (5:44 pm): At the same time, not everyone is as dialed in as these golfers.
Na Yeon Choi made 4 birdies today but had to settle for a 70 and a tie for 2nd at -10 with Anna Nordqvist--and she wouldn't have even done that well if she hadn't strung together late birdies on 15 and 16.
Inbee Park was bogey-free today, but could only manage 1 birdie all day and is stuck at -7. She took 5 more putts today than she did yesterday. Paula Creamer, Shanshan Feng, Charley Hull, and Sandra Gal are all -1 with only a few holes to go for each of them...]
[
Update 3 (5:50 pm): Back to the hot golfers:
Stacy Lewis made 4 birdies in her last 12 holes to claw her way to -5;
Jodi Ewart Shadoff did the same to get to -3;
Ai Miyazato fired a bogey-free 67 that included 4 birdies between the 10th and 16th holes (w00t!!);
Alison Walshe has made 6 birdies today and with 4 holes to play is -6.]
[
Update 4 (5:51 pm): Cut watch continues with Chie Arimura, who's birdied 2 of her last 4 holes to fight back to E for the week and is playing the par-5 16th in a must-birdie situation.]
[
Update 5 (5:52 pm): Hot watch continues with
Amy Yang, who birdied 5 of her last 12 holes on her way to a bogey-free 67 that gets her to -5.]
[
Update 6 (5:55 pm): And with
Joanna Klatten, who's birdied 4 of her last 7 holes to get to -5 and still has 5 left to play.]
[
Update 7 (5:57 pm):
Feng has birdied 3 of her last 4 holes to become the 71st player at -2 or better. Hull needs to birdie 18 to join her.]
[
Update 8 (6:00 pm): We know that Ariya Jutanugarn, Katherine Kirk, Sun Young Yoo, Jee Young Lee, Samantha Richdale, Eun-Hee Ji, Caroline Hedwall, Meena Lee, Lorie Kane, Rebecca Lee-Bentham, Jennifer Song, Stephanie Meadow, Mika Miyazato, and Gerina Piller will not make the cut.]
[
Update 9 (6:02 pm): Looks like only 3 golfers can help those at -1 right now: Mirim Lee, Shanshan Feng, and Sarah Kemp. 2 of the 3 have to drop below -2 to let everyone at -1 in.]
[
Update 10 (6:03 pm): Arimura birdied 16! So that means that there are 5 live rounds at -1 that can also change the cut-line equation if any of them get to -2.]
[
Update 11 (6:07 pm): Feng matched T-Joh's 68 to join her at -2. Kemp has birdied 4 of her last 7 holes to get to -3 and has 5 to play, so I think she's looking to rise further up the leaderboard rather than being in danger of falling back to -1. Although Mirim Lee was -5 at the same point and on a roll, having birdied 3 of her previous 6 holes, but went double-bogey on 14 and 15 to drop back to -2, so you never know.]
[
Update 12 (6:09 pm): Wow, Kemp just bogeyed 14, her 1st bogey since the 3rd hole, to join Mirim Lee at -2.]
[
Update 13 (6:10 pm): Hull parred 18, so she's done at -1. There are now only 3 players at -1: Arimura, Christina Kim, and Candie Kung, who can ensure that the cut line moves up to -2, whatever Kemp and Lee do.]
[
Update 14 (6:12 pm): Walshe just bogeyed her last 2 holes in a row now to bring it to 3 on her day. Back to -5. Let's see if she can regroup on the par-5 7th.]
[
Update 15 (6:27 pm): Klatten has now made it 5 birdies in her last 8 holes! She's -6 with 3 to play.]
[
Update 16 (6:27 pm): Ouch! Mirim Lee bogeyed 18 to go +4 in her last 5 holes and fall to -1.]
[
Update 17 (6:28 pm): There are exactly 70 golfers at -2 right now.]
[
Update 18 (6:32 pm): Arimura couldn't birdie 17 or 18 and Christina Kim also finished at -1, so it all comes down to Sarah Kemp now (unless Candie Kung finishes birdie-birdie).]
[
Update 19 (6:41 pm): BTW, tough finish for Brittany Lang as TV coverage was shutting down: after birdieing 6 holes between the 4th and the 15th, she had a 4-foot birdie putt on the par-5 16th to get to -10, but ended up 3-putting, then doubled the 18th after duck-hooking her drive and failing to recover from it gracefully. So she's at -6 now.]
[
Update 20 (6:45 pm): Kemp could not birdie the par-5 16th. She can go par-par to make the cut and keep it at 70 golfers, but if she finishes +1 over her last 2 holes, she lets at least 87 golfers play on the weekend!]
[
Update 21 (6:48 pm): So Yeon Ryu continues to set records this week!
Check it out!]
[
Update 22 (6:50 pm): Scratch the drama at the cut line. After fixing an error, the LPGA.com scoreboard now shows everyone at -1 at T70.]
[
Update 23 (6:53 pm): I've studiously avoided mentioning
Danielle Kang's round as she followed up her bogey-free 33 with 8-straight pars. But now that she's birdied the 18th to join the group at -10, I can't possibly jinx her today! She's got a 34-hole-and-counting bogey-free run going, to boot!]
[
Update 24 (6:55 pm): It wasn't an error: Chella Choi withdrew. Hope she's ok!]
[
Update 25 (7:00 pm): A lot of players I really like made it into the weekend thanks to Chella's WD: Mika Miyazato, Paula Creamer, Ya Ni Tseng, Mina Harigae, and Chie Arimura.]
[
Update 26 (7:10 pm): You know, as easy as this course has been playing, only 12 golfers have broken 70 both days. If Ryu can make it 4 in a row, somebody's going to have to go low-60s/mid-60s to have a chance of catching her!]
[
Update 27 (7:11 pm): Kemp did finish par-par, btw, to end her day at -2, while Klatten followed up a bogey on 17 with a par on 18 to finish at -5. Only 4 golfers within 5 shots of the lead but 33 within 10....]
[
Update 28 (8/23/14, 6:02 am): Here's
Ruthless Mike's take on Ryu's roll!]
