Yani Tseng ties for third in South Korea
Defending champion Yani Tseng seemed to have a big sigh of relief after she took the share of third position in the second round of LPGA Hana Bank Championship 2012, being played at Ocean Course, Incheon, South Korea.
Tseng, who won the last edition of the LPGA Hana Bank Championship in grand style as she outrivaled South Korean Na Yeon Choi, ranks among the hot favourites for the ongoing tournament, although her performance has been worse than average in most of the recent LPGA (Ladies Professional Golf Association) tournaments.
Tseng’s performance was eye-catching in the opening round on Friday as she posted a 67. But the second round saw her play even more confidently, as she got a bit closer to the number one spot, being held by Norwegian Suzann Pettersen.
Tseng started her second round on Saturday with a great vigour as she drained her maiden birdie on the first hole. She then parred the next hole and launched the second birdie of the round on the hardest par-3 third hole.
She, however, lost momentum on some holes. The top-ranked prodigy failed to address the ball well on the greens par-4 6thand winded up shooting a bogey. Two back-to-back bogeys on the 8th and 9th hole rattled Tseng, but she kept moving ahead with careful strokes
On the back nine, she sank two consecutive birdies on the 14th and 15th hole.
Pettersen remained the strongest contender right from start of the tournament on Friday, as she fired a 68 in the second round to stand firm at the number one spot on the leaderboard.
Sharing her thoughts about an almost-flawless performance, the Norwegian star said at the end of the first round that she is happy after cementing her position on the top of the leaderboard.
She said that her putting was particularly well in the first round but the fairways seemed a bit difficult.
“I mean, the fairways are fairly wide this week compared to last week. So first of all you can you can step up with driver and feel quite comfortable,” Pettersen said. “There's a few carrots out there that ‑‑ like I said, I feel like I'm hitting my tee balls pretty good so I feel like I can step on the pedal on a few, like on 5. In the past I've been more conservative”.
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