In-Bee surges in Singapore
SINGAPORE: Olympic champion Park In-Bee recovered from a rare double bogey to grab the outright lead after the second round of the HSBC Women’s Champions tournament yesterday.
Playing just her second tournament after a six-month break to recover from a thumb injury, the South Korean shot a second straight five-under-par 67 at Sentosa Golf Club to lead by a single stroke at 10-under 134.
Three players — American Michelle Wie (69), South Korean Hur Mi-Jung (67) and Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn (68) — were locked in a three-way tie for second at nine-under.
Norway’s Suzann Pettersen (67) and South Korean Park SungHyun (68) were a further shot back on a packed leaderboard.
In-Bee had gone 29 holes without dropping a shot at the par-72 New Tanjong course when she missed the green with her approach on the 12th hole and then fluffed her chip, taking a double bogey six.
But she recovered from her mistake with a birdie at the 14th, and then calmly drained a fivefoot putt at the final hole for her seventh birdie of the day to seize the halfway lead.
“It was just really unlucky. I had a really good drive down the middle and I had mud on the ball,” InBee said.
“I was on the right side and I knew it was going to go left, and I aimed right but it went 30 yards left. I hit a good shot but it’s that unlucky bounce. Making doublebogey was a mistake.
“I didn’t want to ruin the day with one bad hole with an unlucky shot. I think it’s just trying to keep the calm emotions going. Obviously there was a few birdie holes coming in, so I was trying to get a couple from there.”