WORLD OF Hall leading home hopes
GEORGIA HALL moved up to second place at the Ricoh Women’s British Open at Kingsbarns after firing a five-under-par 67 in the second round.
The 21-year-old from Bournemouth got off to a flying start, hitting four birdies in a row from the second hole before ending the day on nine under par for the tournament.
That left Hall two strokes behind leader Kim In-Kyung of South Korea and level with American Lexi Thompson.
She said: “I’ve never had four birdies in a row. I try and play levelheaded all the time, whether I get a birdie or a bogey.
“I’m just trying to get as many birdies as I can out there. The course was quite scoreable today because it wasn’t that windy. I’m playing really well. I’m especially putting good. So that is certainly helping me at the moment.”
Hall – who is aiming to be the first English winner since Karen Stupples in 2004 – held her nerve when she fired into a bunker off the 16th tee, a mistake that resulted in her only bogey of the day. She added: “I’ve been kind of the same since I started when I was seven. There’s no point in getting angry because it’s just going to make things worse.
“I stress about a lot of things: like making sure I get here on time, and making sure I’m on the tee 10 minutes before and stuff like that. Nothing big.”
Fellow Englishwoman Jodi Ewart Shadoff finished two shots behind Hall after a second-round 70, while another home hope, Charley Hull, recovered from three straight bogeys to shoot a 71 that left her on five under.
Hull said: “I didn’t really do much wrong for the bogeys early on. I just kind of missed a couple of putts. I had fun. I’m quite happy the way I finished. The birdie on 17 made my round a lot better.”
Michelle Wie failed to build on her recordbreaking openinground 64, ending the day on four under par after shooting a 76.
Laura Davies collapsed from reaching seven under par after 12 holes, ending the day on two under par. ASHTON GOLDING enjoyed the kind of night he grew up dreaming about as Leeds dealt a blow to Wigan’s hopes of reaching the play-off semi-finals.
Homegrown full-back Golding scored twice to help ensure a thrilling Super 8s win for the Rhinos.
Brian McDermott’s men were dumped out of the Challenge Cup semi-finals by Hull last weekend while Wigan beat Hull to book their place at Wembley.
Yet it was Leeds who prevailed at Headingley last night. Golding’s fellow academy product Stevie Ward opened the scoring for Leeds in the 17th minute when he scythed through the Wigan defence.
Leeds-born Golding, 20, then had his first four minutes later when Matt Parcell and Kallum Watkins combined to usher him over from close range. Wigan fashioned the kind of response befitting defending champions as homegrown winger Tom Davies scored twice in quick succession, his second a brilliant long-range effort.
That made it 10-10 at the break but Ryan Hall’s surging run and clever kick sent Golding diving over for his second in the 45th minute.
Ten minutes later, Tom Briscoe’s pass put Parcell over and then Ward completed his own double from Danny McGuire’s pass as secondplaced Leeds moved two points closer to leaders Castleford.
Ward completed his hat-trick late on with another clinical finish. Sam Tomkins hit back for Wigan with five minutes remaining.