Seo Yeon-jeong (서연정) jumped to a one-shot lead after two rounds of the Korea Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) Tour’s KG Ladies Open ($800,000) and will be looking for her first career victory.
Seo carded 10 birdies and one bogey for a 9-under 63 in the second round of the tournament at the par-72, 6,748-yard Sunny Point Country Club in Yongin, Gyeonggi-do, on Sunday.
With an 11-under-par 133 total, Seo took sole possession of the lead after the second round was suspended due to sunset.
It was the second day in a row that the tournament was disrupted by fog.
A two-hour delay from the first tee time of the first round the previous day left 15 players unable to finish by sunset, and the remainder of the first round this morning started an hour and 20 minutes behind schedule.
Play continued until well after 7 p.m., but three players were unable to complete the second round and will play the remainder of the day.
Seo, who was in the top 20 after a 2-under-par first round, fired a blistering second round to open up the possibility of her first win in her 260th event on the regular tour.
Seo has been playing on the regular tour since 2014, but has 10 second-place finishes and no wins.
The player with the most tournaments to win on the KLPGA Tour is An Song, who reached the top of the leaderboard in her 237th event. Seo will break that record if she wins.
On the day, Seo started her second round on the first hole and continued her steady play with five birdies on the front and back. Her only bogey came on the 13th hole (par-4).
“I knew that 10-under-par was the course record, but I thought it was impossible to go over 10-under-par, so I played with my mind down, and I was able to finish with a good score,” said Seo.
“You can’t win in your head, so I tried to keep my mind down and be relaxed. I made a lot of passive plays to protect myself in the final round, but I will try to be more aggressive.”
“Super Rookie” Hwang Yoo-min, who leads the Rookie of the Year standings with 1818 points, shaved five strokes off his score on the day to reach a 10-under-par 134 total and cut the lead to one shot.
Hwang’s chance to add to her win total comes nearly two months after she recorded her first win on the KLPGA Tour at the Daewoo Women’s Open in early July.
Noh Seung-hee, who led the field at 7-under after the first round, finished three strokes back in a tie for second with no bogeys to continue her quest for her first regular tour victory.
Lee So-mi was fourth (9-under 135) and Choi Ye-rim fifth (8-under 136).
Defending champion Hwang Jung-mi and last week’s major, the Hanwha Classic, winner Kim Soo-ji, were tied for sixth (7-under 137) with Ko.
Two-time defending champion Park Min-ji, Park Ji-young and Im Jin-hee rounded out the top five at 6-under 138, while Kim Min-byul and Lee Ga-young were at 5-under 139. 토토