Lydia Ko has made up some ground in her second round at the Evian Championship golf major in France.
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New Zealand’s Lydia Ko, the world number one and defending champion, was not at her best, but managed to scramble her way to a 70 and is certainly not out of touch.
Chun In-gee doubled her overnight advantage to lead the Evian Championship by four strokes from fellow South Korean Park Sung-hyun going into Sunday’s final round.
South Koreans Park and Chun did manage to paint a pretty pictures on the scoreboard, both posting flawless eight birdie rounds for a one shot lead over American rookie Annie Park and China’s Sahnshan Feng.
Ladies European Tour Order of Merit leader Beth Allen got off to a bad start with a quadruple-bogey eight at the first and eventually finished six over, while nearest rival in the rankings Catriona Matthew shot a 73 to leave the Scot two over.
Ko fared better this time with a 68 but is nine shots off the lead.
Her eagle on the 15th was a brilliant 35-yard chip from the back of the green that rolled up and across the green with ideal weighting, prompting her to raise her arm triumphantly.
“There’s no benefit for just long hitters”, she said.
“I always try not to think about winning”, said Chun, who missed the cut here previous year.
Feng, who started slowly with four pars and a bogey on five, got her game together too late, drifting six shots behind after making 69.
Her 19-under total is already a 54-hole scoring record, eclipsing the mark set by Annika Sorenstam at the 2004 LPGA Championship. “I’ll stay the course and hope to have a good result”.
“To me it’s very cool”.
She helps mentor the current crop of Bulldogs following a stellar career that saw her shatter nearly every individual record, including most rounds in the 60’s, lowest stroke average, most birdies and a Belmar Golf Club course record at the 2014 Schooner Fall Classic. Thompson was a runner-up at this event in 2010 and finished third in 2015 but she hasn’t exactly lit it up at this tournament in recent years.
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Masters champion Danny Willett of England was a stroke back, also through 13 holes at Golf Club Milano next to Monza’s Formula One circuit.
