Petterson opens up five-stroke lead in Korea
20 Oct 2012 - 17:17:26
Suzann Pettersen of Norway opened a five-stroke lead after two rounds at the LPGA KEB-HanaBank Championship on Saturday, after firing 68 for a two-day total of 13-under 131.
Pettersen leads South Korean Ryu So-yeon in the three-round tournament on the par-72 Ocean Course at the Sky72 Golf Club.
The world number nine dropped in five birdies against a bogey, with four of the birdies coming on the back nine.
Pettersen didn't get her first birdie until the seventh, and it was negated on the very next hole. She bounced back to pick up four of her five birdies on the back nine.
Afterwards she said she had had to make adjustments for the conditions which were breezier than the previous day.
"Not that it was extremely windy, but it was a little different yesterday. And it almost took me nine holes to kind of adjust to the conditions," she said.
She added: "I was standing on 15 and said to myself, it would be nice to finish with two or three birdies... and I think that's what I did. Good way to finish the day."
On Friday Pettersen set the course record with a blistering nine-under 63.
Ryu, points leader in the race for the LPGATour Rookie of the Year award, began her day with three birdies in her first seven holes.
But she picked up only one more birdie and two bogeys the rest of the way.
Lurking right behind at seven-under is defending champion Yani Tseng. The Taiwanese had an up-and-down 70 with five birdies along with three bogeys.
Starting the day with a strong two birdies on the first three holes, she then committed four bogeys on the last four holes of the front nine, pulling back with birdies on the 14th, 15th and 18th. The final birdie came after her third shot to the par-5 green landed within three feet.
"Always very happy to get a finish like that on 18 and enjoy the crowd," she said. "I'm very looking forward to tomorrow and just want to relax and have the same strategy as today."
South Korean Pak Se-ri shot the low round of the day with a bogey-less 67, while Sandra Gal of Germany followed her 69 Friday with a 68 Saturday.
Only six out of 68 players broke 70 on Saturday, a day after 23 shot in the 60s in milder conditions.
