Syme still on a roll at Celtic Manor as he eyes maiden Tour win
Daniela Holmqvist (Swe) 71 70 Austin Ernst (USA) 72 70, Sophia Popov (Ger) 70 72
Jasmine Suwannapura (Tha) 71 72, Emily K Pedersen (Den) 71 72, Lindsey Weaver (USA) 71 72, Minjee Lee (Aus) 74 69, Lydia Ko (Nzl) 72 71
Nelly Korda (USA) 72 72, Haru Nomura (Jpn) 74 70
Yealimi Noh (USA) 72 73, Nuria Iturrios (Spa) 71 74, Anna Nordqvist (Swe) 71 74, Alena Sharp (Can)
71 74, Lee-anne Pace (Rsa) 71 74, Megan Khang (USA) 75 70
Caroline Inglis (USA) 75 71, Elizabeth Szokol (USA) 72 74, Caroline Masson (Ger) 72 74, Inbee Park (Kor) 77 69
Ariya Jutanugarn (Tha) 73 74, Andrea Lee (USA) 74 73, Catriona Matthew 71 76, Mi Hyang Lee (Kor) 76 71, In Gee Chun (Kor) 72 75, Ashleigh Buhai (Rsa) 74 73, Kristen Gillman (USA) 75 72, Cydney Clanton (USA) 74 73, Becky Morgan 74 73, Angela Stanford (USA) 73 74, Hannah Green (Aus) 75 72, Lizette Salas (USA) 73 74
Jodi Ewart Shadoff 73 75, Jennifer Song (USA) 74 74, Amy Olson (USA) 67 81, Dana Finkelstein (USA) 77 71, Maria Torres (Pue) 76 72, Johanna Gustavsson (Swe) 73 75, Sandra Gal (Ger) 74 74
Marina Alex (USA) 70 79, Georgia Hall 73 76, Azahara Munoz (Spa) 74 75, Angel Yin (USA) 75 74, Amy Yang (Kor) 73 76, Brittany Altomare (USA) 77 72, Ally Mcdonald (USA) 74 75, Perrine Delacour (Fra) 75 74, Celine Herbin (Fra) 74 75, Anne Van Dam (Ned) 77 72, Katherine Kirk (Aus) 72 77, Alison Lee (USA) 72 77
Felicity Johnson 76 74, Emma Talley (USA) 77 73, Stephanie Meadow 75 75, Julieta Granada (Pry) 77 73, Michele Thomson 73 77, Jenny Shin (USA) 77 73, Momoko Ueda (Jpn) 75 75, Moriya Jutanugarn (Tha) 77 73, Pernilla Lindberg (Swe) 75 75, Danielle Kang (USA) 76 74, Bronte Law 80 70, Jing Yan (Chn) 77 73 151 Stephanie Kyriacou (Aus) 73 78, Dottie Ardina (Phl) 78 73, Morgan Pressel (USA) 77 74, Melissa Reid 78 73, Sarah-jane Smith (Aus) 78 73, Nasa Hataoka (Jpn) 74 77, Camilla Lennarth (Swe) 75 76, Carlota Ciganda (Spa) 77 74, Gaby Lopez (Mex) 71 80, Cheyenne Knight (USA) 76 75, Laura Fuenfstueck (Ger) 73 78
In-kyung Kim (Kor) 78 74, Kendall Dye (USA) 77 75, Brooke M. Henderson (Can) 77 75, Haley Moore (USA) 76 76, Monique Smit (Rsa) 75 77, Hannah Burke 76 76, Pei-yun Chien (Chn) 78 74, Leona Maguire 77 75, Linnea Strom (Swe) 75 77, Manon De Roey (Bel) 81 71, Charlotte Thompson 79 73, Celine Boutier (Fra) 81 71, Nicole Broch Larsen (Den) 74 78, (a) Julia Engstrom (Swe) 78 74, (a) Gabriela Ruffels (Aus) 79 73, Kelly Tan (Mal) 74 78
Connor Syme rose to the challenge in some of the toughest conditions he’s played in to stay at the head of affairs at the halfway stage in the Wales Open at Celtic Manor.
Six days after being out in front after 54 holes in the Celtic Classic at the same venue, the 25-year-old Fifer is holding the outright lead again but this time with 36 holes to go.
After backing up an opening 66 with a 70 to sit on six-under, Syme is two shots ahead of a group that includes fellow Scot Liam Johnston after he stormed into contention with a68.
“That was brutal,” said Syme of the conditions at the Newport venue. “I thought yesterday was tough but going through what we went through there, we got quite lucky yesterday to be honest. It wasarealgrind,thatwassome of the hardest conditions I’ve played in.
“Practising on the putting green, it was moving a lot so I wasn’t sure if we were going to get started, but I’m delighted with 70 today. I don’t really feel like I had my best stuff but it’s hard in the wind.
“I holed a couple of nice ones but really trusted my pace putting and that was the key to a solid score in that wind.”
Syme, who finished third behind Sam Horsfield in the Celtic Classic, is chasing a maideneuropeantourwin,as well as a place in next month’s US Open through the UK
Swing Order of Merit. “Obviously it’s a course I’m getting to like. I’m really just rolling with the same confidence from last week,” he added.
“I’d say the US Open was definitely one of my goals once I’d started the UK Swing. To put myself into a position to do that is obviously great, but it’s not something you can really think about, there’s so much that can happen.
“Obviously I’m just trying to finish as high up the leaderboard as I can and the rest will take care of itself, but there’s still a lot of golf to be played.”
Johnston carded five birdies to sit in a group that includes China’s Haotong Li (66) and England’s Jordan Smith, who had shared the overnight lead with Syme. “I’m delighted,” said Johnston, who lost his main tour card at the end of last season, of his day’s work.
“I hit my irons great, kept it in play off the tee with my driver. I had a couple of three putts in there, too. I would have snatched someone’s hand off for three under.”
Bob Macintyre just made the cut after following an opening 68 with a 78.