There may be an all-star leader board at the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open, but that hasn’t stopped American Tiffany Joh from leading at the halfway stage at Gullane.
The world No.177 followed her opening 62 with a four-under 67 in near perfect conditions to lead by three on 13-under, ahead of Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn and Amy Yang from South Korea.
Joh, who is leading an LET/LPGA event for the first time, started her second round as she finished her first – with a birdie – and she quickly added another at the par-3 third hole. There was one blemish on the par-four fifth, but after making the turn in two-under, there were more heroics on the back nine. On the downhill par-4 10th, Joh drained an 80 foot putt from off the green for birdie, adding another for good measure on the par-4 14th hole.
She said afterwards: “I had pretty low expectations for today, to be honest. I honestly probably would have taken anything under par, but on the first hole right away we made like a 45-footer, and I just started laughing. Like I didn’t even know what to say. So yeah, it was like a really good start, and I guess I just kept rolling with it.”
On her monster putt on the 10th, she commented: “I was playing a U. S. Open sectional qualifier with Rebecca Artis, and she hit this amazing like 80-foot putt from the fringe and she made (her caddie) Jeff go get it out of the hole, and I was like, ‘Oh, man, I wish I could do that one day. Like I wish I was like cool enough to pull that off.’ There was one time where I probably had an opportunity, but my caddie and I awkwardly started kind of heading towards the pin at the same time and we were like ‘You, no, oh.’ And then I ended up getting it. But right when I made that off of the fringe it was like a huge putt like down a tier. I kind of saw him going towards the hole and I was like, ‘Yeah, go get it. And I kind of walked off the green and I felt really cool.’”
Jutanugarn, who shot 65, shares the same putting coach as Joh and the Californian added that she would love to play with the world No.3, although every time she sees her name on a leader board, she hears the Jaws theme tune in her head.
The 2016 Ricoh Women’s British Open champion wasn’t overly impressed by her own putting, despite making six birdies on a flawless score card and said: “I’m a little surprised because I didn’t play golf for like two weeks. I didn’t practice at all, and I don’t really like windy or links course. So I feel like after two rounds 10-under is pretty good.”
Germany’s Caroline Masson is on nine-under, with world No.2 Sung Hyun Park a stroke further back. Park’s compatriot, world no.4 So Yeon Ryu, is alongside the Vic Open champion Minjee Lee on seven-under-par.
