Sandra Gal ties for fifth at Incheon
German Sandra Gal was one of the non-Asian contenders who did well at the LPGA Hana Bank Championship 2012. She shot an overall score of 208 to finish tied for the fifth position along with American Lexi Thompson.
Gal was not among the favourites for the three-round LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association) tournament, but she did much better than the experts had anticipated.
Having gotten off to a decent start that saw her card a 69 in the first round, at Ocean Course, Incheon, South Korea, Gal’s putting was stunning as she fully capitalised on good weather and course conditions.
She registered five birdies and two bogeys to set the ball rolling, and moved into the second round with a more solid strategy.
The German golfer could not handle the ball well at the start of the second round on Saturday, as she carded a bogey on the first hole.
Commentators said that the weather conditions remained favourable, but they were a bit more challenging compared with Friday. Winds remained calm most of the day, but breeze made it slightly hard for the players to stay focused on some holes.
Gal took some time to adjust to the changing conditions on the course on Saturday, but that set her back with three bogeys in the round.
She tried to regain her composure after she drained her first birdie on the par-4 second hole.
On the back nine, Gal improved her position as she reeled off five birdies. She recorded two consecutive birdies on the 11th and 12th and another two on the 17th and 18th.
Observers had predicted that South Koreans in particular and Asians in general would shine at Incheon this year too, but Europeans stole the show by displaying a stellar performance.
Suzann Pettersen of Norway registered an overall 205 to move into the playoff along with Scottish Catriona Matthew. Pettersen won the match by shooting a birdie on the third extra hole, ending her winning drought after over fourteen months.
“So made a few birdies on the back nine, made a little bit of unfortunate lie on 12 on the par‑3, but overall I felt like I played pretty good, it was just not a scoring day,” Pettersen said of her last-round performance on Sunday.
Tags: