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| China’s Yiying Ye tees off during the second round |
Chinese team mates Shanshan Feng and Liying Ye thrilled the home galleries by topping the leader boards in both the individual and professional team events after the second round of the World Ladies Championship at Mission Hills Haikou in southern China on Saturday.
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| Chinese No.1 Shanshan Feng |
The pair continued to lead the team competition with a combined 36-hole total of 270, 18 under par, eight strokes clear of second placed Thailand, with Sweden two shots further behind.
Feng and Ye also shared the lead in the 54-hole individual stroke play tournament running concurrently over the Vintage Course with matching nine under par totals, but insisted that there would be no rivalry for personal glory within the team.
“I usually have a habit that I don’t really look at the score board during the tournament but this time I was actually watching because I wanted to see how we are doing and it was really a surprise,” said Feng, ranked 12th in the world. “I was really happy when I saw both of us were on top and our team score was on top too. We are partners and I think if either of us wins, I will feel really happy.”
Ye, a winner on the Japanese LPGA Tour in 2011, echoed those sentiments and said there would be no individual battle: “The team is leading so I’m very happy. I think I will just keep my feeling and just play my game.”
Ye, the runner-up to Annika Sorenstam at the 2008 Suzhou Taihu Ladies Open in China, who spent two years in America, had a faultless second round of 67 containing five birdies on a hot and breezy second day on tropical Hainan Island.
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| Florentyna Parker |
Feng dropped one shot at the 10th but collected four birdies for a 69 to maintain her overnight share of the lead.
“I was trying really hard but didn’t play my best today but I think we’ve still got a good chance tomorrow. I think today my putting wasn’t really good and the reason why was, I think I was giving myself too much pressure. Tomorrow I am going to try to relax on the course, focus on every shot and do my best,” said Feng, who like Ye is bidding to make history by becoming the first ever Chinese winner in the 33-year history of the Ladies European Tour.
In the individual professional tournament, the pair leads by two strokes over England’s Florentyna Parker, Italian Diana Luna and Thailand’s Pornanong Phatlum.
Despite dropping a shot at the second, Parker reeled off six birdies to share the lead before making a double bogey at the par-three 17th and then signed for a 68.
Luna, who held a share of the first round lead, started slowly for the second successive day with a pair of bogeys on the fifth and sixth, but picked up three shots on the back nine to complete a round of 71.
She felt that it was hard to judge the yardages with the course drying out owing to a one-and-a-half club wind.
“It was a struggling day. The course was playing a little more difficult because of the wind. I’m still pretty pleased with a minus one score. I was a little bit unlucky with my putting today but hopefully tomorrow more will drop,” said Luna. Italy shares fourth with England on seven under in the team competition and she added: “I think everything is still to play for tomorrow even though China has many, many shots ahead. This format, everything can happen so we are still looking for it.”
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| Lydia Ko, leading the amateur contest |
In the amateur competition, New Zealander Lydia Ko, 14, carded a second straight round of 71 and sits on a two under par total, with a narrow one stroke lead over Yi Chen Liu of Chinese Taipei while China’s Jing Yan is two strokes further behind.
Out of eight amateurs in the field, Ko, Liu and Yan were the only three to finish inside the cut mark, which fell to 56 players at four over par, including 53 professionals. There were 14 team members who missed the cut in the individual competition but will play with their partners on Sunday making a total field of 70 players for the final round, which starts at 7.30am, with the leading trio teeing off at 11.30am.
The Welsh team will not play the final round after one of its representatives, Becky Brewerton, retired with injury, leaving 19 pairs in the tournament. England’s Georgina Simpson also retired but was not competing in the team event.
While the action continues out on course, the competition for the highly coveted “Best Dressed Award” continues to attract ever increasing attention among golf fans and fashionistas both at Mission Hills and around the world. With several thousand votes cast over the first two days for the best turned out player, it’s Danielle Montgomery from England leading the field with 2,703 votes who clearly caught the public’s eye following her red-carpet appearance at the Opening Ceremony wearing a an off the shoulder white dress.
In second place it’s Klara Splikova from the Czech Republic who continues to turn heads on the fairways and putting greens as much as she did at the Opening Ceremony where she wore a stunning pink cocktail dress.
Photos of players on and off the course will be uploaded onto the tournament website and you are invited to join the fun and cast your vote at http://worldladieschampionship.missionhillschina.com/. The “dress” with the highest number of votes will be the winner of the “Best Dress Award”. Voting ends at midday local time (GMT +8) March 4, 2012.
World Ladies Championship
Mission Hills Haikou, Hainan, China
The Vintage Course (par 72)
March 2-4, 2012
Individual tournament
Scores at the end of round 2:
135 – Li Ying Ye (CHN) 68 67, Shan Shan Feng (CHN) 66 69
137 – Florentyna Parker (ENG) 69 68, Pornanong Phatlum (THA) 68 69, Diana Luna (ITA) 66 71
138 – Beth Allen (USA) 67 71
139 – Pernilla Lindberg (SWE) 69 70
140 – Caroline Masson (GER) 70 70, Marianne Skarpnord (NOR) 70 70
141 – Amy Hung (TPE) 69 72, Nontaya Srisawang (THA) 70 71, Line Vedel (DNK) 71 70, Linda Wessberg (SWE) 69 72, Ursula Wikstrom (FIN) 70 71, Lee-Anne Pace (ZAF) 71 70, Anne-Lise Caudal (FRA) 67 74
142 – Lydia Ko (NZL) 71 71, Cecilie Lundgreen (NOR) 72 70, Felicity Johnson (ENG) 71 71
143 – Yun Jye Wei (TPE) 72 71, Caizhu Guo (CHN) 71 72, Virginie Lagoutte-clement (FRA) 74 69, Yi Chen Liu (TPE) 70 73, Carin Koch (SWE) 68 75, Gwladys Nocera (FRA) 73 70, Jennifer Rosales (PHL) 70 73
144 – Melissa Reid (ENG) 70 74, Liebelei Lawrence (LUX) 72 72, Connie Chen (ZAF) 73 71, Rebecca Flood (AUS) 71 73, Lin Yan Shang (CHN) 73 71, Giulia Sergas (ITA) 71 73, Candie Kung (TPE) 67 77
145 – Stacey Keating (AUS) 73 72, Kylie Walker (SCO) 75 70, Jing Yan (CHN) 72 73, Xi Yu Lin (CHN) 68 77
146 – Bree Arthur (AUS) 69 77, Stephanie Na (AUS) 72 74, Margherita Rigon (ITA) 71 75, Sahra Hassan (WAL) 75 71, Karen Lunn (AUS) 70 76, Rebecca Codd (IRL) 67 79, Yue Xia Lu (CHN) 70 76
147 – Lucie Andre (FRA) 76 71, Amelia Lewis (USA) 72 75, Tao Li Yang (CHN) 75 72, Tania Elosegui (ESP) 73 74, Mei Hao Huang (CHN) 75 72
148 – Nikki Garrett (AUS) 74 74, Pan Pan Yan (CHN) 71 77, Sophie Giquel-Bettan (FRA) 76 72, Danielle Montgomery (ENG) 72 76, Marieke Nivard (NLD) 75 73, Klara Spilkova (HRV) 79 69
Missed the cut:
149 – Sophie Walker (ENG) 70 79, Mei Ping Lu (CHN) 78 71, Kym Larratt (ENG) 75 74, Bo-Mi Suh (KOR) 76 73, Lydia Hall (WAL) 73 76
150 – Wei Li (CHN) 78 72, Zuzana Kamasova (SVK) 74 76, Frances Bondad (AUS) 75 75, Yan Hua Shen (CHN) 72 78, Hong Mei Yang (CHN) 75 75, Malene Jorgensen (DNK) 77 73, Titiya Plucksataporn (THA) 73 77, Adriana Brent (AUS) 75 75, Yu Yang Zhang (CHN) 73 77
151 – Yan Hong Pan (CHN) 75 76, Ashleigh Simon (ZAF) 72 79, Jaclyn Sweeney (USA) 73 78, Carly Booth (SCO) 75 76
152 – Xiao Zheng Ren (CHN) 73 79, Ping Huang (CHN) 75 77, Rachel Jennings (ENG) 77 75, Marjet Van Der Graaff (NLD) 80 72, Charlotte Thomas (NZL) 76 76, Clare Queen (SCO) 76 76
153 – Hannah Jun (USA) 74 79, Dan Li (CHN) 78 75, Dottie Ardina (PHL) 73 80, Jia Yun Li (CHN) 75 78, Jin Xiang Zheng (CHN) 77 76, Xin Wang (CHN) 76 77
154 – Anja Monke (GER) 72 82, Yu Ting Shi (CHN) 77 77, Ling Ling Tan (CHN) 74 80, Xiao Long Zhong (CHN) 77 77, Carmen Alonso (ESP) 76 78
155 – Louise Larsson (SWE) 79 76, Qin Zhou (CHN) 76 79, Sha Wu (CHN) 80 75, Charlie Douglass (ENG) 72 83, Julie Tvede (DNK) 76 79
156 – Laurette Maritz (ZAF) 81 75
157 – Hong Tian (CHN) 78 79
158 – Wen Wen Wang (CHN) 79 79, Yun Yan Bai (CHN) 78 80
160 – Ana Larraneta (ESP) 75 85, Jessica Ji (KOR) 80 80
161 – Hong Lian Wu (CHN) 85 76, Jincui Yang (CHN) 79 82, Xin Xia (CHN) 79 82
162 – Lin Zhang (CHN) 84 78
163 – Xiao Hong Chen (CHN) 82 81
Becky Brewerton (WAL) 75 RTD
Georgina Simpson (ENG) 76 RTD
Team Scores:
270 (-18): China (Shanshan Feng and Liying Ye)
278 (-10): Thailand (Pornanong Phatlum and Nontaya Srisawang)
280 (-8): Sweden (Pernilla Lindberg and Linda Wessberg)
281 (-7): England (Florentyna Parker and Melissa Reid)
281 (-7): Italy (Diana Luna and Giulia Sergas)
282 (-6): Norway (Cecilie Lundgreen and Marianne Skarpnord)
285 (-3): Chinese Taipei (Amy Hung and Candie Kung)
291 (+3): France (Virginie Lagoutte-Clement and Sophie Giquel-Bettan)
291 (+3): USA (Beth Allen and Hannah Jun)
292 (+4): South Africa (Lee-Anne Pace and Ashleigh Simon)
294 (+6): Germany (Caroline Masson and Anja Monke)
296 (+8): Scotland (Kylie Walker and Carly Booth)
296 (+8): Philippines (Jennifer Rosales and Dottie Ardina)
298 (+10): Australia (Nikki Garrett and Frances Bondad)
301 (+13): Netherlands (Marjet Van der Graaff and Marieke Nivard)
301 (+13): Spain (Tania Elosegui and Carmen Alonso)
303 (+15): China B (Yu Yang Zhang and Li Jia Yun)
305 (+17): Denmark (Malene Jorgensen and Julie Tvede)
310 (+22): Korea (Bo-Mi Suh and Jessica Ji)
(Wales retired)
