Paula Creamer leads second round at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational
The U.S Women Open Champion Paula Creamer carded a six under 66 at the Guadalajara Country Club course on Friday to lead the Lorena Ochoa Invitational. Creamer, after securing a one stroke lead over Norway’s Suzann Pettersen is now in a good position to
win the tournament. The invitational is the second last event of the LPGA circuit this season. The finale tournament will be the Tour Championship and will be held in Florida in December.
Paula posted birdies in two of the last three holes to finish the day with an overall ten under. She said she is happy with the way she’s playing and that she is putting very well. It’s a good thing that most of the her putts are rolling the way she wants
them to. Creamer said that all she can ask for is to give her as many chances as she can.
"I really like coming here," Creamer said. "I enjoy the golf course. It sets up very well for my game. It's not the longest golf course that we play all year, but you have to hit a lot of fairways and you have to be very precise with your irons and that
kind of suits my game. But coming in second last year, I definitely wanted to come back and give myself a good chance to win."
Creamer finished two strokes behind the winner Michelle Wie last year. The defending champion, Wie, had to withdraw from the tournament due to back injury. Her opening score was a 78.
The leader of the first round, Cristie Kerr, tied for fourteenth position at four under. Opening the tournament with a 64, the American player struggled during round two. Giving two double bogeys on the back nine, the third-ranked player finished with a
76 after day two.
Pettersen played the back nine holes very well and hence finished in second place. She birdied the tenth, eleventh, thirteenth, fourteenth, fifteenth and eighteenth hole. She said she gave herself a good chance and made some nice putts. It’s a good thing
that her ball is finally going into the hole and this is something that will definitely help her get to the top. 2010 has been a good year for the player. She said she has been very consistent and that is something she is looking for. Suzann said it would
be nice to have some top finishes but with such a hectic schedule it’s good to see that you have your game under control.
Suzann says it won’t be long before she can get it all together and wrap it up. She will play with the current leader and Stacy Lewis in round three on Saturday. Lewis finished the second round with an 8 under. She took advantage of playing with Kerr today
and she saw how this course can prove to be difficult. The former University of Arkansas champion said one has to play conventionally sometime and go for any birdie opportunities you get. She bogeyed the eighteenth hole to finish her bogey-free performance
after 78 holes. This was the longest run on tour this year.
Lewis said she doesn’t like being in the spotlight because the general public doesn’t expect her to win. This kind of limited attention doesn’t put her in pressure and hence she likes being the ‘underdog’.
The host of the tournament, Lorena Ochoa, followed her first round 74 with a 71 and finished in 26th position with 1 over. This tournament was the first time she appeared in competitive golf after her retirement earlier this year.
Ochoa said that that since she didn’t take the lead, her chances of winning are very slim. She did say that even though winning her own tournament is out of her hands now, but all she can do is finish in a decent position.
The third round of the tournament will take place on Saturday.
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