Unknown Bailey Tardy soars to US Women’s Open lead
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Bailey Tardy made four birdies and eagled the par-five sixth hole for the second straight day.
PHOTO: REUTERS
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SAN FRANCISCO – Bailey Tardy is the epitome of a surprise clubhouse leader at the US Women’s Open.
The LPGA rookie has five missed cuts and one withdrawal in 10 events this season and nearly did not qualify to play in this week’s Major. But there she was atop the leaderboard after two rounds, as a four-under 68 gave her a seven-under 137 total on Friday at Pebble Beach Golf Links.
“I’m honestly just enjoying the moment here,” Tardy, ranked 455th in the world, said after making the cut for the first time in four editions of the tournament.
“I’m leading the US Open at Pebble Beach. And that’s something that is just so special. I’m trying not to get too ahead of myself. There’s so much golf left.”
She has a two-shot lead over American Allisen Corpuz (70) and Kim Hyo-joo of South Korea (71). Ryu Hae-ran of South Korea carded a 72 for fourth place at 141, and Ireland’s Leona Maguire and Japan’s Nasa Hataoka are tied for fifth at 143 after each shooting 74.
Tardy made four birdies and eagled the par-five sixth hole for the second straight day. She had two bogeys in the round.
“I think (No.) 6 is a really difficult drive for me, knowing that there are bunkers that I can reach and then water,” said the 26-year-old American.
“But once you get over that, you hit a good shot. I know the line straight over that hill, so just having that confidence to be able to hit the green in two I guess has helped me do that the last two days.”
Corpuz made four birdies against two bogeys during her round.
“Going into this year, it really has just been about getting better and better. I honestly still need to get a little more comfortable, I think, in contention,” said the 25-year-old, who has yet to win on the LPGA Tour but tied for fourth at the Chevron Championship, the first Major of the season.
Kim, a co-leader after the opening round, started on the back nine and made four birdies in an eight-hole stretch between No. 12 and No. 1. That brought her to seven under, but she closed her round with consecutive bogeys.
“I started well like yesterday. I was feeling well and satisfied. But not as well as yesterday, but I did not make major mistakes. Then the last two holes, yes, I did make mistakes. So I was not feeling as good,” she said.
The world No. 8 has one Major title, the 2014 Evian Championship.
“Starting tomorrow, I will have an excellent mindset as it’s a new day,” the 27-year-old said.
Former Stanford star Rose Zhang shot 71 and is at one-over 145.
“Feel like the game isn’t exactly where I want it to be exactly, but you can’t really have that many weeks where you’re always on top of your game,” said the 20-year-old, who recently turned professional among a sea of hype and won the next tournament she played for her first LPGA Tour title.
“You have to learn how to grind it out, and I’m slowly learning to do so.”
Former Stanford star Rose Zhang shot 71 and is at one-over 145.
PHOTO: AFP
Canada’s Brooke Henderson (75) is two over, New Zealand’s Lydia Ko (71) is three over and Nelly Korda (73) is five over.
South Korean world No. 1 Ko Jin-young, Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul and Lexi Thompson of the United States were notable names to miss the cut.
Michelle Wie West shot 79 for the second straight day, leading to a missed cut at the final event of her career at 14 over. But the 2014 champion was able to celebrate when a difficult 31-foot par putt dropped on her last hole. REUTERS
