Ko back in form to seize 2nd round lead at KEB Hana Bank Champs
Lydia Ko of New Zealand hits her second shot on the 16th hole of Round 2 of the LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship at the Ocean Course of the Sky 72 Golf and Resort in Incheon, Friday. The tournament is the sole LPGA Tour event in Korea and is scheduled to run through Sunday. / Yonhap
By Nam Hyun-woo
INCHEON ― Lydia Ko sank seven birdies to make a huge leap to take the lead at the LPGA KEB Hana Bank Championship in round two, Friday, while opening round hotshot Park Sung-hyun was having a rough day.
World No. 2 Ko shot a bogey-free seven-under second round to lead the tournaments with a 10-under 134, one stroke clear of runner-up Lexi Thompson who fired five-under in the second round to stay at nine-under 135 at Ocean Course at Sky 72 Golf and Resort in Incheon.
“I played solidly and made a lot of good putts and when I was in trouble, I got a little fortunate and put myself in good position. I’m happy with the way I played,” said Ko during a post-round interview.
Ko made a fresh start by sinking consecutive birdies on Nos. 1 and 2 and narrowed the gap between round one leader Park with additional birdie streaks on Nos. 5-6 and 11-12. On the Par-5 18th, the New Zealander approached the ball some three meters away from the cup with her third shot and holed out an easy birdie to wrap up the round in a familiar fashion.
“I’ll focus one shot at a time tomorrow and I’ll just focus on my game because I know there is a lot of great golf coming from a lot of great players,” she said.
Ko has been spending recent months playing solid golf. After winning the Canadian Pacific Women's Open in August with a 12-under 276, she hoisted the Evian Championship title the next month and made a second-place finish at the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia last week. This is a dramatic rebound from a dismal 46th-place finish at the Cambia Portland Classic, which was held a week before the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open.
While Ko was extending her momentum, Park, who shot a course record 10-under Thursday and took the surprising lead, was spending most of the day struggling with her putts, bogeying on three consecutive holes from Nos. 6 to 8. With Ko playing about five holes ahead of Park, the 22-year-old Korean struggled to widen the gap, but carded five bogeys, finishing the second round with two-over, bringing her to an 8-under 136 for the first two days of the tournament.
Making powerful drives, Park, who leads the KLPGA driving distance table with an average 256.72 yards per drive, played another round of aggressive golf on Friday, but her putts couldn’t find the hole in critical moments, including the par putt on the 18th.
“Since the tournament runs for four days, I knew I would have at least one rough day,” said Park. “The putting line was not that visible so I missed a lot of short putts.”
Among the big shakeup on the round 2 leaderboard, Lexi Thompson also made a big chase. Thompson, who shot four-under a day earlier, exploded a birdie streak on Nos. 5 to 7 to raise her rankings from ninth place. Cho Yoon-ji also shot four-under to record an eight-under 136, sharing the No. 3 spot with Park.
Ko’s day two surge pits the Lydia Ko-Park In-bee race for Rolex Player of the Year award into question. First-place Park is seven points clear of Second-placed Ko. In the point system, a fourth-place finish is equivalent to seven points; meaning should Ko win the tournament,, the two players’ rankings will be upside down regardless of Park’s result. Also, the potential win will place Ko back in the No. 1 position in the Rolex Rankings, regardless of Park’s result.
“If there’s a switch, the media is going to talk about it,” said Ko. “I’m sorry, but I’m going to try to ignore you guys. That’s the best way. When I’m out there, I’m just trying to get a good shot and put myself in a good position. But if I think about rankings or awards, it’s just way too much. I think it’s hard enough to try to hit the ball straight.”
Park carded an even par on Friday, remaining at 3-under 141 through 36 holes. Park, who said earlier that her putting sense is worst-ever, seemed to struggle in the second round, adding two bogeys on Nos. 12 and 13.
Meanwhile, Charley Hull, who followed Park four strokes behind on Thursday, saw her standing drop after yielding a double-bogey on the 8th and a bogey on 10th.