Friday's round was a story of redemption at the ANA Inspiration as In-Kyung Kim carded a near-perfect 65 to take a three-shot lead ahead of Katherine Kirk.
Friday's round was a story of redemption at the ANA Inspiration as In-Kyung Kim carded a near-perfect 65 to take a three-shot lead ahead of Katherine Kirk.
Kim came within inches of winning the ANA Inspiration in 2012 after missing a vital putt in a play-off against Sun-Young Yoo, and her performance yesterday proved she’s out for redemption. Add her closing birdies at 15, 16 and 18 to the five before it and she played an almost perfect round, with the exception of a mishap at 7 resulting in a bogey. Kim has seven LPGA Tour wins under her belt and despite plenty of top 10s has never managed to seal a major yet. Can she hold on to the lead to seal the deal this weekend?
After a 7-under 65, she sits pretty at 8-under at the top of the leaderboard, three ahead of Australian Katherine Kirk. Kirk’s round of 4-under could have easily turned into one that saw her grab the top spot though; She made five birdies on the front nine and one on the back and was bogey-free until finishing with back-to-back bogeys at 17 and 18.
First-round leader Ally MacDonald couldn’t quite repeat the magic of Friday and after a steady round of two birdies and two bogeys signed for a level-par 72. She’s dropped into a tie for third alongside Jin Young Ko.
England trio Charley Hull, Jodi Ewart Shadoff and Georgia Hall all edged their way up the leaderboard. Hull closed yesterday’s round with a birdie at the last to sign for 3-under and a share for 5th spot. Ewart Shadoff is just two shots behind her, closely followed by Hall at level par.
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