Angel Yin leads CME Group Tour Championship at mid-point, with Nelly Korda lurking
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Angel Yin of the United States plays a shot on the third hole during the second round of the LPGA Tour Championship.
PHOTO: AFP
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MIAMI – Angel Yin was thankful for a supportive crowd, as she carried a two-shot lead into the weekend at the LPGA Tour Championship after posting a three-under 69 on Nov 22 in Naples, Florida.
A US$4 million (S$5.4 million) first prize is on the line for the season finale at Tiburon Golf Club, where 60 players qualified based on the season-long Race to the CME Globe.
American Yin opened with a 65 on Nov 21 and sits at 10-under 134, with South Korea’s Choi Hye-jin (68) and An Na-rin (72) tied for second at eight under.
“I think I have a really loud crowd that’s always cheering me on,” the 26-year-old said.
“Even if I feel down they’re going to pick me up. That’s always very good. Grateful for that. And then I’m playing good too. Even though I’m not hitting it the best I want to, I was hitting it better three weeks ago.”
Her six birdies counteracted three bogeys, and she is one of only four golfers in the field to shoot sub-70 rounds on both days.
The Los Angeles native has won just once on the LPGA Tour. A breakthrough at the Tour Championship would be the biggest moment of her career.
In hot pursuit is Choi, whose professional wins have come entirely on the Korean tour. Still, she managed to finish the Race to the CME Globe in 17th on the strength of seven top-10 finishes.
She has just one bogey through two days.
“These two days... I felt really well,” the 25-year-old said. “So keep trying, like keep it to this weekend and then, yeah, take some rest.”
Two players shared the low score of the day by firing rounds of 66 – world No. 1 Nelly Korda and England’s Charley Hull, who just went head-to-head in the final group of The Annika on Nov 17 before Korda won.
Korda is six under, in a tie for fourth with Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikul (67), China’s Yin Ruoning (68), Japan’s Ayaka Furue and South Korea’s Amy Yang (both 69). Hull is part of a tie for ninth at five under.
In men’s golf, Patrick Fishburn shot a bogey-free, eight-under 64 to grab the 36-hole lead at the RSM Classic in St Simons Island, Georgia.
At the finale of the PGA Tour’s FedExCup Fall series, golfers are playing Sea Island Golf Club’s two courses over the first two days of the tournament.
Fishburn followed a 67 at the par-70 Seaside Course with his 64 at the Plantation Course to get to 11-under 131, one shot better than fellow Americans Maverick McNealy (70) and Lee Hodges (63). REUTERS
