(Bangkok, Thailand – April 1 2005) Shani Waugh from Australia held on to her share of the lead with Hong Mei Yang from the People’s Republic of China after the second round of the US$330, 000 Thailand Ladies Open at the Alpine Golf and Sports Club in Pathumthani, near Bangkok.
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| Waugh – still tied for the lead |
Thai star and local favourite Virada Nirapathpongporn is placed one shot back on five-under-par after carding a four-under-par 68 and was feeling confident.
“I’m happy to be here right now. I’m on track. I started out with a 71 in the first round and I knew I had some good golf waiting for me so today I put out a good number,” admitted the 22-year-old from Bangkok.
“I’m feeling good for the weekend and I think I’m right where I need to be.
“I went out and had set a goal for myself which I accomplished so I had a good round. I just hit more greens and made a couple more putts than I did yesterday.”
Four players are tied for fourth position on four-under par. They are Yu Chuan Tai from Chinese Taipei, who had a 70, and her compatriot Yu Chuan Tai, who had a 72.
Thai amateur Pornanong Phatlum also sits at four-under after she had a 68, as does her compatriot Rungthiwa Pangian, who had a 70.
Tied for eighth position on three-under are: Asa Gottmo from Sweden, who had a 70, Ludivine Kreutz from France, who had a 71, Sun Wook Lim from Korea, who had a 71 and Ran Hong, also from Korea, who had a level par 72.
But it was Waugh who defeated the intense pressure she admitted to feeling on the first tee and who overcame the tough weather conditions.
“It was a funny round because it was so bad to start with but I guess I just kept persevering and not getting too flustered,” said Waugh, who has fourteen years of experience playing on the Robe di Kappa Ladies European Tour.
“I would have done a few years ago, because when you’re leading the tournament there’s a little bit of pressure, you know, you don’t want to embarrass yourself and so when I started I thought – ‘well you’ll only embarrass yourself if you start thinking like that’.
“Earlier today was really odd because I had slippery hands which I’ve never had before and the perspiration was getting in between my grips, so dealing with that was a pretty new experience.
“You go to rub your hands on your shorts and you realise your shorts are even more wet than your hands and so you have to use your towel to dry them.
“It’s just little things like that you have to deal with in the heat, but everyone else is going through the same thing.”
Sixty players and ties head into the third round tomorrow and the cut fell at six over par.
