Tseng’s shots hot at Brit Open

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 31/07/2010 (5764 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

SOUTHPORT, England — Yani Tseng certainly is consistent.

The 21-year-old from Taiwan shot her second consecutive 4-under 68 on Friday, taking a four-shot lead after the second round of the Women’s British Open. The American duo of Brittany Lincicome and Christie Kerr joined Amy Young of South Korea in the chase entering the weekend.

"There was no wind this morning and it was very calm, so it was nice out there," said Tseng, who is trying to win her third major championship. "The course played totally different than what we played the last three days, so it was really nice."

Rain washed over Royal Birkdale in the afternoon, making things difficult for the late starters — including defending champion Catriona Matthew of Scotland, who missed the cut by seven strokes after making a 10 at the par-four 13th hole.

Her tee shot landed in a bush and she eventually found the deep rough near the green. After three tries to hack her way out of it, Matthew ended up taking a penalty drop, chipping onto the green and two-putting for her 10 — only to birdie the par-3 14th hole.

"After the 10, I just wanted to get in," said Matthew, whose 10-2 sequence on her scorecard was part of a 9-over 81. She missed the cut at 12 over.

Alena Sharp of Hamilton shot a 71 Friday and was 12 shots off the lead at 4-over-par 148. Montreal’s Lisa Meldrum had a 79 and missed the cut at 11 over.

Kerr certainly didn’t have any problems, posting the low round for the tournament with a 5-under 67. She made a pair of 10-footers for birdie on the first two holes, dropped a stroke at the eighth, then picked up four more birdies to join Lincicome and Young at 4 under.

"I played really well today," Kerr said. "I was determined to be more relaxed out there. I’ve been putting a lot of pressure on myself since getting the No. 1 ranking and I hadn’t really realized that’s what was going on."

Lincicome had a birdie at the second, then dropped four strokes in a three-hole stretch beginning at the 11th. She also took advantage of an easy finish at Royal Birkdale, though, with a birdie at No. 15, an eagle two holes later and another birdie at 18 for her 1-under 71.

Veteran Julie Inkster also shot herself into contention with a 2-under 70 that left her five shots off the lead, doing so in the worst of the weather. Suzann Pettersen of Norway shot a 68 and Sun Young Yoo of South Korea had an even-par 72 to join Inkster in a tie for fifth.

Michelle Wie failed to take advantage of an early start time, hitting her first tee shot out of bounds. She ended up shooting a 4-over 76 that left her 10 strokes off the lead.

Winnipeg Free Press | Newsletter

Mike McIntyre | On Sports

Thursdays

Keep up to date on sports with Mike McIntyre's weekly newsletter.

Sign up for Mike McIntyre | On Sports

Sign Up

I agree to the Terms and Conditions, Cookie and Privacy Policies, and CASL agreement.

Fellow American Christina Kim went the other direction with a 4-under 68 that moved her into a tie at 2 under.

— The Associated Press