Nelly Korda received the higher of defending champion Lilia Vu and residential favorite Charley Hull to maneuver right into a three-shot midway lead within the AIG Ladies’s Open at St Andrews.
The world No 1 posted 4 birdies in a bogey-free spherical to card a second successive 68 on the Outdated Course, taking her to eight below and in a robust place to assert a seventh victory of the season.
Korda’s closest problem got here from her enjoying companions, with in a single day chief Hull birdieing three of her final 5 holes to salvage a level-par 72 and Vu making a second-round 70 to additionally head into the weekend on 5 below.
Olympic gold medallist Lydia Ko and former champion Ashleigh Buhai are each inside 5 of the lead, whereas not one of the afternoon wave – who additionally received the worst of the situations on Thursday – had been in a position to threaten Korda’s clubhouse goal set earlier within the day.
Former KPMG Ladies’s PGA champion Ruoning Yin was the decide of the early-late aspect of the draw and is 4 off the lead, whereas England’s Lottie Woad – the novice world No 1 – additionally impressed with a two-under 70 to take a seat simply exterior of the highest 10.
Korda on high as stars shine at St Andrews
Hull’s in a single day benefit shortly disappeared when she missed a close-range putt on the par-four tenth – her opening gap of the day, with Vu pulling degree with the Englishwoman when she birdied the par-four twelfth.
Issues received worse for Hull when she bogeyed the par-five 14th and Vu dropped a shot on the seventeenth, the place Korda holed from lengthy vary for the primary of back-to-back birdies to succeed in the flip in 34 and transfer high of the leaderboard.
Hull fell additional behind with a three-putt on the par-four second however started her fightback by holing from distance to match Korda’s birdie on the par-five fifth, then added one other on the par-four subsequent to shut inside three.
Vu moved alongside Hull by choosing up a shot on the par-four seventh, with all three gamers signing off their second rounds with closing birdies on the driveable par-four ninth to carry the highest three spots on the leaderboard.
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Lilia Vu nearly made a hole-in-one after an excellent tee shot on the par-three eighth throughout her second spherical
“I’m just trying to stay very present and not think about anything other than one shot at a time,” Korda mentioned about her title hopes. “And whatever golf and links golf throws at me, I’m going to take it head-on.”
Hull, chasing a maiden main title, mentioned: “I left a lot of putts out there. I think Nelly had 30 putts and I had 36 putts, so that’s six putts that I’ve lost to her on the greens. Only three shots behind – that’s nothing going into the weekend, especially on this golf course.”
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Charley Hull mentioned her resilience after producing a robust end to remain inside three photographs of the midway lead on the AIG Ladies’s Open
What else occurred?
Yin birdied the final in her level-par 72, whereas Buhai – who was briefly a part of a seven-way tie for the lead earlier within the day after two eagles in three holes – closed a three-under 69 to take a seat within the group tied fifth.
Woad blended 4 birdies with two bogeys to additionally lie within the share of eleventh and Georgia Corridor is an extra stroke again after bouncing again from a double-bogey on the seventeenth to birdie the ultimate gap of her level-par 71.
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Novice Lottie Woad was thrilled to have made the minimize after two rounds of the AIG Ladies’s Open at St Andrews.
Final month’s Evian Championship winner Ayaka Furue and Rose Zhang each made the minimize on the quantity at 4 over, as Catriona Matthew made an early exit regardless of marking her last AIG Ladies’s Open look with a closing birdie.
World No 3 Jin Younger Ko was among the many notable names to overlook the minimize, with final week’s ISPS Handa Ladies’s Scottish Open champion Lauren Coughlin, Brooke Henderson and Anna Nordqivst all additionally failing to progress.
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