Kylie Henry sits four shots behind leader Hae Rym Kim heading into the last day at the SGF67 World Ladies Championship with SBS in China, within sight of a third Ladies European Tour title.
The Scot had 27 putts as she carded a three-under-par 70 on the Blackstone Course at Mission Hills Haikou on Saturday for a 36-hole total of seven-under, having posted an eagle, five birdies and four bogeys in her second round.
The two-time LET winner, who picked up victories in the Netherlands and Germany in 2014, tied the knot with European Tour professional Scott Henry on 29th December and will jet off to Thailand for her honeymoon after the final round on Sunday. While she will leave her clubs behind for the eight-night trip to Ko Samui, she hopes to carry the trophy with her.
She said: “I’m just really excited for tomorrow and happy to be in the position that I’m in. I’ll try to play well again and do the best that I possibly can. It’s been Korean dominance in this event, but there are a few LET players on the leader board so hopefully one of us can take the trophy home.”
She started her second round with a birdie on the second, followed by two bogeys and then another birdie at the fifth, before making an eagle on the long sixth. A bogey on the eighth completed her one-under-par front nine. Her back-nine of two-under included one bogey on the 11th against three birdies at holes 10, 12 and 16.
She reflected: “It was quite up and down with a lot of birdies and a few bogeys but I’m happy with my game. I made an eagle on six where I hit a 3-wood off the tee and then a 3-wood to the green and holed a 15-footer there.”
The effort left the 30-year-old Glaswegian four behind Kim, a two-time winner on the Korean LPGA Tour, who had a six-under 67 to sit at 11-under.
Kim, who had six birdies in a bogey-free round, said: “I made the most of the par-5 holes out there and had six birdies. Today, the wind was blowing a bit more than yesterday, but I think that was the reason I was able to score well.”
Florentyna Parker was also on fire as she set the clubhouse lead in the morning with a five-under-par 68 to share third with Jin young Ko on six-under.
Parker, who was four-under for her first three holes from the 10th, said: “It was a great wake-up call this morning, starting birdie, birdie, eagle. That basically got me going and I didn’t do much after that.”
The two-time LET winner birdied the long 18th for a back nine of five-under and played the front nine in level par, with a birdie on the second and a bogey on the seventh.
“I’ll take it. I played quite nicely yesterday but wasn’t near the pin as I got some of the wrong slopes and today it seemed to be more in my favour. I’m looking forward to tomorrow,” she said.
Later in the morning, Patricia Sanz Barrio from Spain made her first hole-in-one at the 180-yard par-3 11th hole using a 19-degree hybrid and was presented with a bottle of fizz for her effort.
She said: “I have never had a hole-in-one before and I thought it would be close, but I didn’t know. We all saw the ball go into the hole. It bounced in and we were like, ‘woah!’”
Of the afternoon starters, overnight leader Georgia Hall slipped eight shot adrift of the lead after playing her front nine in three-over-par after a bogey on the fourth followed by a double at the short eighth. However, she started to claw back shots with a pair of birdies on holes 11 and 12.
