Lydia Ko clinches lead for New Zealand in Women’s Amateur Championship
Lydia Ko secured two birdies at the end of her round to take the lead in the Australian Women’s Amateur Championship. The 13-year-old Ko, who is originally of Korean descent, accepted New Zealand citizenship in the beginning of 2010. She hails from Pupuke
Golf Club in Auckland and has won many laurels for her adopted country. She was the runner’s up in the Women’s NSW Open, and finished as the leading golfer in both Australian and New Zealand’s Women Opens. Ko also finished runners up in last week’s Riversdale
Cup.
Ko scored a 2-under par 71 on the end of the third round of the Championship with an overall score of 5-under. These were evidently fruits of her hard work and concentration more than anything else. "I couldn't hit many greens on the front nine and I was
struggling a bit - it was pretty hard to get up and down," Ko said."I think overall the round was good though."
She will start off her campaign for the top slot tomorrow against her formidable enemies including world number one, Cecilia Cho, and also Yi-Chen Liu, both from Chinese Taipei. It was a low scoring day for Both Cho and Liu who kept struggling to gain a
lead. They closed the day with 3-under. Ko will have a two shots lead over Cho, who is also the defending champion. The young kiwi was excited of the final day's play.
"It will be challenging. I need to have fun out there and relax and play the best that I can. I know Cecilia and Yi-Chien are good players and can shoot good scores out there so I just need to keep my score going." Ko said.
Emily Perry of Waikato shot an unimpressive 8-over par to finally settle for a score of 21 over for the 32nd place. The top 32 players from the 54-hole Stroke play Championship will participate in the match play phase of the Amateur Championship.
Faye-Amy Nickson also has a slim chance of qualifying for the next phase as she is currently in 57th place in the tournament. Australian Minjee Lee is in third place after she scored 1-over to settle the third round for 1-under.
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