Choi, Tseng lead after 2nd round in South Korea
October 31, 2009
INCHEON, South Korea (AP)—Na Yeon Choi of South Korea shot a 71 and Taiwan’sYani Tseng shot a 70 to share the lead at 5-under par after a wet and windysecond round of the LPGA Tour’s KOLON Championship on Saturday.
Choi and Tseng finished at 139 and were among seven players to go under parfor the round as poor weather forced play to be suspended for almost an hour.
The 22-year-old Choi led for most of the round before returning from therain delay and bogeyed the par-3 17th hole to allow Tseng a share of the lead.
Sweden’s Maria Hjorth (72) and South Korean Jimin Kang (73) were tied at 4under for the tournament.
First round co-leaders Meaghan Francella of the United States and Germany’sAnna Grzebien dropped six strokes and 10 strokes respectively to fall to themiddle of the pack.
But the challenging weather didn’t stop Choi, who made four birdies on thefront nine before weather forced the suspension of play.
“My putter was working on the front nine but it was hard to focus as thewind and rain got stronger on the back nine,” Choi said.
Tseng and South Korea’s In-Kyung Kim were the only players to shoot a 70 forthe low-round of the day.
More inclement weather is in the forecast for Sunday’s final round. The 2007tournament was shortened to 36 holes due to unplayable course conditions.
Choi earned her first victory on the LPGA Tour at the Samsung WorldChampionships last month after finishing 11th on the LPGA money list last yearin her rookie season.
Choi also has four wins on the Korean LPGA Tour, which is co-sanctioningthis week’s tournament.
Five Koreans rounded out the top five at 3 under; Inbee Park, Eun-Hee Ji,Ran Hong, Song-Hee Kim, and Bo-Kyung Kim.
The shot of the day went to Jiyai Shin of South Korea. The LPGA money leaderholed a shot from the bunker on the sixth hole after pulling her approach shotleft. Shin was at 1 under.
Lorena Ochoa was 10 strokes off the lead after a second-round 77, tied forher second-worst round of the year.
The LPGA Tour moves to Japan next week for the Mizuno Classic.
Tee it up with Yahoo! Sports Fantasy Golf 09
