Reid stays tied at the top in Korea

Home

Melissa Reid maintained a share of the lead after the second round of the European Ladies Masters in South Korea.

Melissa Reid maintained a share of the lead after the second round of the Daishin Securities Tomato M Korea European Ladies Masters in Jeju, South Korea.

The English 23-year-old carded a second round 69 in sunny weather at Haevichi Country Club to move to a total of five-under-par. She shares the lead with South Korean 19-year-old Soo-Jin Yang going into the final round.

Reid grabbed the outright lead with three birdies in her first four holes and moved two shots ahead of the field when she rolled in a 40 foot putt for birdie at the par-five ninth hole.

However, her charge stalled with a three-putt bogey from long distance at the par-four 13th and after two-rounds, she was eight-under in total on the front nine and three-over on the back.

“I played quite well on the front nine and hit a few shots pretty close. Then the back nine was a little bit slow so I lost a bit of momentum,” explained Reid, who is suffering from a cold. “I think it’s because I’m not really expecting anything of myself because I’m not feeling the best.”

The European No.3 said that she was running out of energy. “I was getting quite tired towards the end and struggling with my striking. All in all, I would have taken 69. It was tough, the pins were tough today. It was a tough day for us.”

She has a chance to claim her second professional title in Korea on Sunday and added: “I haven’t played great the last couple of weeks so I’m not really expecting anything but I did a great couple of days work coming into this event and I guess things have fallen into place. My swing wasn’t feeling right last week at all and I figured it out a bit too late. Me and my caddie Lee (Griffiths) just did a bit of work on that and short game early in the week.”

Yang’s start was also spectacular, with four birdies in her first six holes for a matching outward total of 32. However she picked up three more birdies and two bogeys for an inward half of 35 and was five-under for the day.

She said: “Today I hit pretty good putts and iron shots. Everything was good, especially the front nine, which was very nice but after the back nine, I struggled, but somehow I coped. I am satisfied with the round.”

The No.2 ranked player on the Korean Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) can take the No.1 spot on the Korean Money List with her third win of the season at the co-sanctioned event. She explained: “This season, I want to be top of the money list so I am playing to win.”

Meanwhile, the 2008 champion Hee-Kyung Seo shot 69 and lies in a tie for third place with Young-Ran Jo and Soo-Young Moon on three-under.

Eight players are a shot back in equal sixth place, including Paraguayan Julieta Granada who carded a second round 72 and Korean amateur Julie Yang, who had a 71.

Granada said: “I started off really well on the front nine and then we took a long time on the back nine so I lost my concentration a bit. I hit lots of greens but I was not very concentrated today and it was a little long.

“I hit 16 greens so I had 34 putts and I need to work on my putting. The leaders didn’t go so far ahead which is good for me. Tomorrow I am going to have to go low. If tomorrow is like today they are going to go low so I have to do the same.”

The Netherlands’ Dewi-Claire Schreefel was the next best placed European in joint 14th place on one-under.

The European No.1 Lee-Anne Pace of South Africa, with five wins this season, stands in a group of eight players on three-over-par. England’s Laura Davies, ranked second in Europe after four victories in 2010, added a 71 to her opening 78 to make the cut on the mark at five-over-par, attributing her poor opening round to the pace of play.

The third and final round begins at 7.45am on Sunday from two tees. The leading trio of Reid, Yang and Seo will tee off at 9.39am.

Home

Latest