SINGAPORE: Amy Olson of the United States leads the HSBC Women’s World Championship by two strokes over a large chasing pack that includes Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn.
World No.1 Ariya, who was tied for the lead after the first round, shot 1 under par on Friday to move to 5-under, while sister Moriya, who is 19th in the world rankings, was a stroke further back.
Olson’s eagle on the front nine and a late birdie on the 16th hole were enough for the American to emerge from a five-way tie from the first-round lead to shoot a 3-under 69.
The 26-year-old American had a two-round total of 7-under 137 Friday at the LPGA event on the Sentosa Golf Club’s Tanjong course.
Other golfers joining Ariya two shots behind the leader were Inbee Park (69), Azahrara Munoz (68), Jodi Ewart Shadoff (70), and world No.3 Minjee Lee (71), runner-up at the Honda LPGA Thailand championship last week.
After an eagle on the par-5 eighth on Thursday, Olson did the same on the par-5 fifth in the second round.
“I’ve made some pretty good shots on both those par fives to set them up,” she said.
Fourth-ranked Park, making her first start of the LPGA season, said she was “feeling kind of rusty, but happy where I am at the moment”.
Former No.1 Lydia Ko shot 70 and was 2-under. Nelly Korda, who won the Women’s Australian Open two weeks ago, shot 70 and was at even par.
Korda had a painful 74 in her opening round, and tweeted about it later.
“Well, I tried to get out of some trouble by punching out… I proceeded to hit a tree … and slammed the grip end of the club in the ground, little did I know it was going to bounce up and hit me full force in my lip,” she said on Twitter. “That’s what we call Karma.”
