And yesterday she finished joint leader at the Keb Hana Bank Championship in Incheon, South Korea, carding a three under-par 69 to move to -13 for the tournament.
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With a victory on Sunday, Ko can overtake Park In-bee of South Korea for the No. 1 spot in the world rankings and the tour’s money list, and also in the Player of the Year points race.
The 22-year-old Park birdied three of the last four holes after making six birdies in a seven-hole stretch in the middle of the round on Sky 72’s Ocean Course.
Lexi Thompson will be grouped with Ko thanks to a second round five-under par 67.
In third on eight-under are Koreans Yoon-Ji Cho and Sung Hyun Park, with Sung having blown her overnight lead after opening with a course record-equalling 62. “I think I missed a couple of putts that I could have made”. Park looks to make it back-to-back victories this week after winning last week on the KLPGA and capture her first win on the LPGA Tour.
Taiwan’s Yani Tseng, the 2011 victor, and South Korea’s Mirim Lee were 7 under.
“I thought it was not an easy course, but my tee shots, my iron shots, my putting, everything just went really well”, Park said through a translator. “I think the most important thing for me is to keep playing my game”.
“I am going to try to ignore (the race)”, she said.
If Park Sung-hyun prevails, she can earn full-time privileges on the LPGA Tour next season.
After making the fairways and greens with regularity over the first 10 holes, the world number two struck another pinpoint drive on the par-four 11th, but left her wedged approach short. Like Park, Piller and Hull also carded bogey-free rounds.
The South Korean heads into day two four shots ahead of Gerina Piller and and Charley Hull with a group of five players in a share of fourth place on 5-under. They each shot 72.
“I’ve been a perfectionist when it comes to golf, and I wasn’t happy with my swing previous year”, she said.
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“We don’t get an opportunity to play in front of our Korean fans, [but] we get to play in front of our family and fans [this week]”. “I think they are as excited as us, even a little bit more….” I think the numbers are only going to go up. “I just felt like I was pretty solid out there”.
