03 Sep 2022 | Professional golf |
Career-low 62 gets Green into LPGA contention
by Australian Golf Media
By Tony Webeck
West Australian Hannah Green has produced her career-low round on the LPGA Tour to soar into the top-10 after two rounds of the Dana Open in Ohio.
A day after shooting three-over 74 left her in the bottom third of the leaderboard, Green was almost perfect from tee to green in a round of nine-under 62.
It betters the 63 (also nine-under) in the second round of her victory at the Cambia Portland Classic in 2019 and puts her in a tie for ninth with two rounds left to play, climbing 115 spots in a single round.
A birdie at the par-3 second was a positive start to her second round but it wasn’t until she neared the turn that the 25-year-old major champion roared to life.
Following a birdie at five Green made four in succession from the seventh hole to move to three-under for the tournament.
The TPS Murray River champion picked up shots at 13, 15 and 18 and remained bogey-free, hitting all 14 fairways, 15 of 18 greens and needing just 24 putts as she chases her first LPGA Tour win since 2019.
Fellow Aussie Minjee Lee’s round of one-over 72 saw her fall 30 spots to 42nd through two rounds, Stephanie Kyriacou playing her way into the weekend with a round of two-under 69 on Friday.
Sydney’s Grace Kim is on track to wrap up her LPGA Tour card for 2023, just one shot off the lead at the Epson Tour’s Wildhorse Ladies Golf Classic in Oregon.
Currently fifth in the Race to the Card standings that awards promotion to the top-10 finishers at season’s end, Kim made her birdies in bunches in a round of eight-under 64.
Starting from the 10th tee, Kim made three on the trot from the 13th hole to turn in three-under and then made five straight from the fourth to the eighth hole to sit just one back with two rounds left to play.
Robyn Choi and Hira Naveed are also well positioned after rounds of seven-under 65 with Gabriela Ruffels five-under late in her opening round.
As he seeks to re-establish himself in Europe Jordan Zunic is also in a good position at the halfway mark of the B-NL Challenge Trophy on the Challenge Tour.
Backing up from a round of three-under 69 on day one, Zunic went bogey free in a round of seven-under 65 to be two strokes off the lead held by Frenchman Jeong weon Ko.
Although both Min Woo Lee and Anthony Quayle missed the cut, Jason Scrivener remains in the hunt for a PGA TOUR card at the Korn Ferry Tour Championship in Indiana.
Needing a finish of solo 10th or better, Scrivener shot five-under 67 on Friday to be in a tie for 26th at the halfway mark of the tournament.
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