Spaniard Mozo holds all the aces
A Belen Mozo hole- in- one underlined her dominance in the second round of the McKayson New Zealand Women’s Open at Windross Farm.
The 29- year- old Spaniard swung a seven- iron, drew the ball into the pin, and had the ball roll into the cup on the 149m par- 3 13th.
She celebrated by kissing the Infiniti car on display, which players can win if they shoot an ace . . . at the weekend.
“That’s karma, I should never do that,” Mozo said. “The same thing happened when I thought I’d won a watch last year. I’ve only had five holes- in- one in professional tournaments.”
Mozo secured eight birdies, an eagle and a double bogey to finish with an eight- under- par 64 for the day and leave her 14- under for the tournament.
Mozo took advantage of calm afternoon conditions and worked her way into what could be an unassailable position with two rounds to play.
“When you score like this everything seems so easy. I got perfect weather but, you still have to perform well. I left myself makeable putts, and struck the ball in a calm state of mind.
“In a way I was pleased to have a bit of up- and- down in the back nine to get me going for the weekend. The first day and front nine were perfect so I was happy getting a taste of what it feels like to suffer to make pars.”
The record finish at an LPGAsanctioned event is 22- under- par by Karen Stupples at the Welch’s/ Fry’s Championship in Phoenix, Arizona during 2004.
The 36- hole record belongs to Annika Sorenstam from the 2001 Standard Register Ping tournament in Tucson, Arizona where she was 20- under- par.
There was a three- way tie for second at nine- under- par between overnight leader Brooke Henderson, Emily Tubert and Madelene Sagstrom.
Lydia Ko was the best of the New Zealanders, shooting a four- underpar 68 to go to six- under overall in front of a benevolent gallery.
Her key moment came on the par5 fifth hole, when she hit a 3- wood into a hazard and took a penalty stroke. She recovered a par.
“They moved the tee forward a bit to make the green more reachable, but my recovery gave me confidence going into the next hole.
“That was the momentum changer for me.”
Ko birdied the next and secured three more on the back nine in a bogey- free round with the wind and rain failing to live up to expectations.
“The front nine was more of a grind . . . but I knew some players would be ripping up the course.
“You could say I was fortunate with the draw, but things like that are out of your control.
“Seeing the putts go in helps mentally. Little things like that can end up being bigger as the round goes on.”
Amateur Amelia Garvey was the next best of the locals, shooting oneunder- par to be three- under overall. Olympic silver medallist Luuka Jones is into her second semifinal at the world canoe slalom championships in Pau, France. Having made the semis in the C1 category, Jones was 12th fastest in the K1 class, where she was second at the Rio Olympics last year, with a time of 90.65s. “It was a solid run, but nothing fancy,” Jones said. Winston Reid’s inclusion in the All Whites’ upcoming friendly against Japan will mark his first match for New Zealand in a year. The West Ham defender and All Whites skipper has not played since October 16 last year, but has overcome a calf injury to take his place in a strong line- up against Japan in Nagoya on October 6.
Goalkeepers: Stefan Marinovic, Michael Woud. Defenders: Michael Bloxall, Sam Brotherton, Kip Colvey, Tom Doyle, Andrew Durante, Dane Ingham, Winston Reid, Themi Tzimopoulos, Deklan Wynne. Midfielders: Michael McGlinchey, James Musa, Moses Dyer, Marco Rojas, Bill Tuiloma, Ryan Thomas. Forwards: Monty Patterson, Kosta Barbarouses, Myer Bevan, Shane Smeltz, Chris Wood. The Chinese Grand Prix will remain on the Formula One calendar after a three- year extension was announced yesterday. The race in Shanghai has been part of the F1 season since its introduction in 2004 but there were some doubts as to whether it would return from 2018 onwards. The NRL has turned down Cronulla and Manly’s requests for a reduction in their fines following criticism of the referees during the first week of finals. The governing body has confirmed the Sharks and Sea Eagles will be fined $ 30,000 and $ 20,000 following outbursts from coaches Shane Flanagan and Trent Barrett. A sense of loyalty to Australia rugby has helped Dave Wessels decide to coach Melbourne Rebels rather than head overseas. The Rebels, who finished bottom of the Australia Super Rugby conference this year with just one win, have signed the in- demand South African as coach for the next two seasons. The former Western Force mentor had been linked to a move to Munster. He said he had “unfinished business” in Super Rugby. Japan head coach Jamie Joseph will replace fellow New Zealander Filo Tiatia as head coach of the Tokyobased Sunwolves in Super Rugby next season. Joseph, who coached the Dunedin- based Highlanders to their first Super Rugby title in 2015, became Japan national coach last year and will now integrate the two major coaching roles in Japanese rugby ahead of the 2019 World Cup in Japan. New Canterbury Bulldogs coach Dean Pay has promised to bring back the “Dogs of War” mentality and reintroduce “a little bit of madness” into the once- feared NRL side. A former premiership player with the Bulldogs, Pay will take over in 2018 after Des Hasler was sacked. Pay wants an aggressive and physical playing style, similar to what he played under in his seven seasons at the club in the late 1980s and 1990s. In his first appearance yesterday as Canterbury’s new mentor, the former Bulldogs premiership winner spoke of bringing his own style to the club but still incorporating an old- school mentality. The Richmond and Adelaide coaches have given their AFL grand final sides a clean bill of health after yesterday’s training sessions. Crows coach Don Pyke has dismissed any concern over midfielder Hugh Greenwood’s suspected calf complaint after Adelaide’s closed training session at the MCG. “All fine,” Pyke said. And Tigers coach Damien Hardwick says his side has no fitness worries entering today’s premiership decider. “We are in a good state . . . we have probably been unchanged for the last three weeks,” Hardwick said.