Rebecca Coakley leading Europeans' challenge

as South Koreans dominate Ladies Masters

FROM THE LADIES EUROPEAN TOUR WEBSITE
JEJU, SOUTH KOREA – Saturday: South Koreans Sarah Lee and Soo-Jin Yang shared the second round lead at the Daishin Securities Tomato Tour Korean Ladies Masters in Jeju today.
Yang posted a 71 before Lee recorded a 72 to join her at three-under. The first round leader Hee-Kyung Seo, who is defending the title she won 12 months ago, fired a 74 and was one of four players just one shot off the pace.
Also at two-under were fellow South Koreans Bo Kyung Kim, Hyun-Ji Kim and the local 16-year-old amateur Jeong Eun Han, who lives on the island of Jeju.
Australian Anna Rawson (74) led the Ladies European Tour challenge in a share of sixth at one-under with another local player, Ae-Ree Pyun (73).
Ireland’s Rebecca Coakley, pictured above, shot a second straight round of 72 and claimed a share of ninth at level par with South Koreans Sung Ah Yim (69), Jeong Eun Lee (70), Ji Hye Jang (70) and So Young Kim (74).
Lee was two over through the turn but picked up momentum over the back nine at Cypress Golf & Resort, with two birdies over her last five holes.
Sarah Lee
The 31-year-old LPGA Tour player, who was born in England but moved to South Korea at the age of four, birdied the 14th and 18th holes to finish.
She said: “I shot even today and it was pretty difficult reading the greens. Inside 15 feet I kept missing putts. I hung in there and I’ve got one more round.”
The 18-year-old Yang, who is a rookie on the Korean Ladies Professional Golf Tour, made her move over the front nine, which she played in 34. She came back in 37 and rued a missed birdie putt from 10 feet at the par-five 18th hole.
Touted as one of Korea’s future international stars, Yang is yet to win on the KLPGA and is 20th on the money list but with a win she could have a chance to become the Korean rookie of the year.
Yang said: “I feel very lucky because it was very difficult in the wind. Every single shot I was thinking about which club to hit because the wind was changing from upwind to downwind.”
Having started the day a shot behind the leader, Rawson was disappointed with her efforts but remained optimistic that this could be the week when she records her first victory in five years as a professional.
She was the outright leader after 12 holes, having birdied the first and 11th, but finished with four bogeys in a row to drop two shots behind the leaders.
“It started off well. I was hitting it great, playing well and hitting good shots,” she said, adding that she three putted the last three greens after her hands got cold and she lost her rhythm.
Coakley, who like Rawson, has ties to Adelaide, also started well but lost her momentum on the back nine.
She was two-under overall through 13 holes but double bogeyed the par-five 14th. She said: “I was going really well and then on 14, the par five, I hit a good drive, a good second shot, was in between clubs for my third shot and had a hanging lie. I caught it a bit think and it’s pitched just past the pin and it just goes straight downhill from there so it’s gone OB by about a foot. I took seven on that hole so that set me back a bit. I had the momentum going. I think it was a bit of indecision because I wasn’t sure what club and went with a little bit more and eased off it a bit. I caught it a little bit thin and on this golf course anything that goes long is OB. Asian golf courses are like that. I’m playing well. I just need to stop making so many bogeys.”
South Korean Eun Jung Sin had a hole in one at the 12th, but her 36-hole score of nine-over was just short of making the cut, which fell at plus eight. A total of 66 players will play the third and final round on Sunday, which begins at 9am local time.
SECOND-ROUND TOTALS
Par 144 (2x72)
141 Soo-Jin Yang (Kor) 70 71, Sarah Lee (Kor) 69 72
142 Jung-Eun Han (Kor) 71 71, Bo-Kyung Kim (Kor) 71 71, Hee-Kyung Seo (Kor) 68 74, Hyun-Ji Kim (Kor) 69 73
143 Ae-Ree Pyun (Kor) 70 73, Anna Rawson (Aus) 69 74
144 Sung Ah Yim (Kor) 75 69, Jeong-Eun 5 Lee (Kor) 74 70, Ji-Hae Jang (Kor) 74 70, Rebecca Coakley (Irl) 72 72, So-Young 2 Kim (Kor) 70 74
145 So Yeon Ryu (Kor) 76 69, Jade Schaeffer (Fra) 74 71, Se-Young Kim (Kor) 73 72, Minea Blomqvist (Fin) 72 73, Bo-Mee Lee (Kor) 69 76
146 Marianne Skarpnord (Nor) 74 72, Becky Brewerton (Wal) 73 73, Hyeon-Ju Lee (Kor) 77 69, Frances Bondad (Aus) 72 74, Hyun Hee Moon (Kor) 70 76, Hyun-Hwa Shim (Kor) 70 76
147 Young-Ae Ham (Kor) 72 75, Stephanie Na (Aus) 72 75, Shin-Ae Ahn (Kor) 71 76
148 Ji-Yeon Woo (Kor) 74 74, Hyun-Soo Kim (Kor) 75 73, Il-Mi Chung (Kor) 74 74, Hae-Won Jeong (Kor) 76 72, Jin Joo Hong (Kor) 73 75, Seul-A Yoon (Kor) 73 75, Ran Hong (Kor) 73 75
149 Hye-Jung Choi (Kor) 75 74, Young-Ran Jo (Kor) 75 74, Yun-Hee Cho (Kor) 74 75, Martina Gillen (Irl) 74 75, Ju-Mi Kim (Kor) 74 75, Morgana Robbertze (Rsa) 73 76, Ha-Neul Kim (Kor) 73 76, He-Yong Choi (Kor) 72 77, Anna Knutsson (Swe) 72 77, Aram Cho (Kor) 71 78
150 Da-Som Lee (Kor) 75 75, Julieta Granada (Par) 75 75, Bo Mi Suh (Kor) 76 74, Lora Fairclough (Eng) 76 74, Sun Wook Lim (Kor) 74 76, Chang-Hee Lee (Kor) 74 76, Sun-Hwa2 Lee (Kor) 77 73, Cecilie Lundgreen (Nor) 77 73, Min-Gee Song (Kor) 73 77
151 Ji-Na Lim (Kor) 74 77, You-Na Park (Kor) 73 78, Iben Tinning (Den) 72 79, Vikki Laing (Sco) 78 73, Ii Hee Lee (Kor) 79 72
152 Hae-Jung Kim (Kor) 75 77, Riikka Hakkarainen (Fin) 74 78, Hye-In Lee (Kor) 77 75, Laurette Maritz (Rsa) 73 79, Hye-Jin Jung (Kor) 77 75, Titiya Plucksataporn (Tha) 77 75, Lee-Anne Pace (Rsa) 79 73, Hye Youn Kim (Kor) 79 73
Missed the cut:
153 Soo-Hwa Jang (Kor) 75 78, An-Na Oh (Kor) 76 77, Um-Ji Kang (Kor) 76 77, Hui-Jeong Kim (Kor) 77 76, Melodie Bourdy (Fra) 73 80, Hae-Joo Han (Kor) 77 76, Eun-Jung Sin (Kor) 79 74, Jin Young Pak (Kor) 79 74
154 Samantha Head (Eng) 75 79, Young Kim (Kor) 76 78, Ursula Wikstrom (Fin) 76 78, Gwladys Nocera (Fra) 76 78, Julie Tvede (Den) 76 78, Virginie Lagoutte-Clement (Fra) 81 73
155 Smriti Mehra (Ind) 76 79
156 Zuzana Masinova (Cro) 75 81, Ha-Na Chae (Kor) 77 79, Chae-A Oh (Kor) 77 79, Jae-Eun Chung (Kor) 78 78, Kirsty S Taylor (Eng) 80 76
157 Jenni Kuosa (Fin) 76 81, Frederique Seeholzer (Swi) 81 76
158 Hei-Ji Kim (Kor) 78 80, Km Juul (Den) 78 80, Min-Sun Kim (Kor) 79 79, Kyra Van Leeuwen (Ned) 79 79, Clare Queen (Sco) 80 78
160 Lynn Kenny (Sco) 77 83, Laure Sibille (Fra) 80 80, Christine Hallstrom (Swe) 81 79
161 Joanne Oliver (Eng) 79 82, Min-Sun 2 Kim (Kor) 79 82, Denise-Charlotte Becker (Ger) 85 76
163 Eva Steinberger (Aut) 78 85, Cassandra Kirkland (Fra) 81 82
164 Tara Delaney (Irl) 77 87