Park, Ciganda lead field after two rounds
ROGERS — Sung Hyun Park walked out of the scoring tent and bent over an oscillating fan that offered a little respite from the heat Saturday.
The 25-year-old LPGA Tour phenom from South Korea enjoyed the cool breeze the large, whirling blades provided, but she also knows there is still a heated battle on the horizon today.
Park and Carlota Ciganda share the lead in the LPGA Northwest Arkansas Championship at 13 under after Saturday’s second round. They also have a horde of golfers nipping at their heels when the final round begins today at Pinnacle Country Club.
Park, No. 2 in the Rolex rankings coming into the tournament, raced up the leaderboard Satur- day and closed with an 8-under
63 after recording nine birdies in the round. Park, who spent 10 weeks as the No. 1 player on the tour and won the 2017 Rookie of the Year award, had a chance at eagle on No. 18 but left her 20foot putt a little short and tapped in for birdie.
“My wedge shots were good today,” Park said through a translator. “With my putts, I was able to make a lot of birdies.”
Park rolled into this event after finishing second at the Women’s PGA Championship last week. This season, she has three
top-1o finishes and a win at the HSBC Women’s World Championship.
She will be in the final grouping today with a chance to earn a $300,000 payday, which would put her over the $1 million mark in earnings for the season.
“I’ve only had one win this season, but overall I feel like I’ve been doing a good job,” Park said. “Last week, I finished well. [Sunday], I want to just focus on each shot going into the final round.”
Ciganda opened play Friday with a 63 and had a 66 on Saturday to move to 13 under. At No. 18, the 29-year-old Spaniard avoided what could have been a tough spot when her second shot on the par-5 hole rolled just inches away from a green-side bunker, but trickled down into the green. Her long eagle putt rolled within a foot of the pin, and she tapped in for birdie.
“I was very happy with my front nine,” Ciganda said. “On the back nine, I hit all the greens, but I could not get close enough to give myself a chance at more birdies. But I birdied the last one, so I’m very happy with the round today.”
Ciganda grabbed a wave of momentum on her first hole when she holed a wedge from 60 yards out for an eagle to move to 10 under. She added three more birdies the rest of the way.
The two leaders are just two shots ahead of a pack of seven golfers at 11 under. First-round leader Inbee Park is among that group after an up-and-down second round.
Inbee Park, the former No. 1 player on the tour and an Olympic gold medalist in 2016, started the round at 9 under, then had birdies at No. 2 and No. 7 to go to
11 under. But she gave those back with consecutive bogies at No. 10 and No. 11 to fall to 9 under. She rallied with birdies at No. 16 and No. 18 to remain in contention.
Danielle Kang and Hyo Joo Kim were in the same grouping and battled shot-for-shot Saturday to finish at 11 under, but they arrived at the score from opposite directions. Kang rolled in an eagle putt on No. 18 to cap an 8-under
63. Kim had to scramble to par the hole to maintain an 11 under with a 7-under 64.
“I feel good, but it was definitely a hot round,” Kang said. “This golf course is very scoreable, so all I need to do is keep giving myself opportunities. We were just matching birdies back and forth, so it was a lot of fun.”