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Park takes 2-shot lead into final round at Olympics

Gaby Lopez, left, and Alejandra Llaneza, both of Mexico, pose for photographers on the 3rd hole during a practice round for t.

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She still had a patriotic look, walking to the first tee with a blue shirt and white shoulders that turned red by the end of a sunny day.

South Korea’s Inbee Park put in an inconsistent round but managed to hold onto her overnight lead in the Rio Olympics women’s golf tournament.

She is 2 shots back of Park and tied for second with Ko. Last week the men’s champion Justin Rose also had a hole-in-one. Na, tied for the first-round lead with Spain’s Rafa Cabrera Bello at 63, had a 67.

“I feel like I have a chance at this”, she said.

“I definitely feel a lot more pressure”, she said.

The 28-year-old South Korean finally got her putter going, and she’s among the best in women’s golf on the greens.

A former No. 1 in the world who is now seventh, Lewis has gone more than two years since her last victory in June 2014 at the Wal-Mart NW Arkansas Championship. She was irritated with her swing during the opening round and even after her practice session Thursday morning.

But it was her one bad hole that enabled Lewis to finish so well.

Carlson, from Hamilton, Michigan, beat IL junior Dylan Meyer of Evansville, Indiana, 3 and 1, taking the lead with a birdie chip on the par-4 14th that he celebrated with a running, double fight pump.

That resolve certainly paid off on Friday when winds whipped to 35 miles per hour and numerous game’s best players challenged her.

Starting with that pitch to tap-in range, she birdied two straight holes and shot a 1-under 70 to take a two-shot lead into the final round.

Park made her first bogey of the tournament on No. 7, but that was the only green she missed.

She had chances on the back nine to go lower, but putts on the 12th and 13th failed to drop and then on the last a 36-foot effort squeezed just past the lip. She moved up into a tie for 17th place after two rounds of play. If something comes in my head and I use that as motivation and just a lot of confidence, I think that’s going to do me a lot of good. “If I didn’t have a trust in myself, I wouldn’t be playing this week”.

Stacy Lewis went backward, too.

AUSTRALIANS SU Oh and Minjee Lee are in medal calculations while World Number One Lydia Ko and Hall of Famer Inbee Park are set for an epic final round duel in the race for Olympic gold. Ariya Jutanugarn, who led after the opening round, was playing with Lewis and couldn’t keep up.

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Piller, 31, has never won on the LPGA Tour, but she’s played on two U.S. Solheim Cup teams and had a strong year to qualify for the Olympics, tying for eighth at the U.S. Women’s Open to move inside the top 15 by mere percentage points.

Stacy Lewis tees off at No. 2

South Korean Park In-bee hits her tee shot on the eighth hole during the second round of the Rio de Janeiro Olympic women's golf tournament on Aug. 18 2016