Joanna Klatten, Carly Booth and Mo Martin made significant moves up the leaderboard on the second morning at the Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies Scottish Open, but first round star Karrie Webb kept her position at the front of the pack.
Klatten, a member of both the LPGA and Ladies European Tours, fired a best-of-the-round 68 in a strong breeze at Dundonald Links, which saw her climb 71 positions and break into the top-10.
The 2012 tournament champion Carly Booth and the 2014 Ricoh Women’s British Open winner Mo Martin both shot 70 on another cool and windy day to sit at one and three-over-par respectively. A three-over 75 was enough for Webb to hold a one-stroke lead on four-under in the clubhouse ahead of Sei Young Kim, as the afternoon’s best players did their best not to be blown off course.
Webb was disappointed to have bogeyed her last two holes, the eighth and the ninth, but added: “Obviously if you’d have told me before I teed off yesterday, that I would be four-under, I probably would have taken it. Hopefully the wind will stay up this afternoon and I won’t be too far behind starting tomorrow.”
“It was really cold this morning, and definitely a lot more wind. The wind had a lot more strength to it. Holes that we were hitting driver and wedge into, that wasn’t even a possibility this morning.
“Definitely our first nine holes was definitely really difficult. I mean, it never really let up. Just as it warmed up, obviously you could hit the ball a little bit further. But yeah, it was challenging right all the way till the end.”
Cristie Kerr was three-over-par for her first seven holes in the afternoon, while Pornanong Phatlum was in the clubhouse on two-under after a 73.
It was Parisienne Joanna Klatten, the longest hitter on the LPGA with an average drive of 278.607 yards, who mastered the elements. She combined an eagle on the par-5 14th with four birdies and two bogeys and said afterwards: “I’m really happy. I had a really good round. I was in great control of my game from tee to green and my driving was great. I live in Dallas now kind of and my swing coach, who I’ve had for three years over there, has really taught me how to play with the wind and I used to be terrible in the wind with a really high ball flight. He really taught me how to keep it low, even with the irons, so I haven’t played links golf in three years, because I didn’t play the last three British Opens, but I can tell the difference. I’m so much more comfortable out there and it’s awesome. I’ve got a really great asset and my putting was much better than yesterday.”
