Korean Chun Breezes into Half-Way Lead

Muirfield, Scotland: Chun In-gee is chasing her fourth Major title after claiming a narrow lead following the second day of the AIG Women’s Open at Muirfield.

In blustery conditions over the East Lothian links, the Korean signed for a five-under-par 66 and a 36-hole total of eight-under 134.

The 27-year-old, who won the Women’s PGA Championship in June to add to her US Women’s Open (2015) and Evian Championship (2016) titles, recorded four birdies in a brilliant back nine of 31.

Chun has a one-shot advantage over South African Ashleigh Buhai and Swede Madelene Sagstrom as the international field chase the prestigious title in the first-ever staging of the championship at Muirfield.

Chun said: “At the beginning of the week, my feel was not great. But I know golf is a scoring game, not just the short game. So I trusted what I thought and just made a good focus on the course and tried to be positive.”

Park In-bee, the 2015 champion, sits one stroke further back at six-under alone in fourth place, with Australian Hannah Green and Miyuu Yamashita from Japan on five-under.

Also in contention on four-under heading into the weekend are Australians Minjee Lee and Steph Kyriacou and Japan’s Hinako Shibuno, the 2019 champion who led after an opening 65 on Thursday.

A further shot back in a share of 11th place is Korean Kim Hyo-joo, a former Queen Sirikit Cup individual champion, with Thai Atthaya Thitikul, winner of the inaugural Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific (WAAP) in 2018, and Japan’s Nasa Hataoka, an ex-Faldo Series Asia champion, among nine players in joint 17th at two-under 140.

Japanese amateur Mizuki Hashimoto, the reigning WAAP champion, bowed out with a 36-hole total of seven-over 149 (73-76). Also missing the cut were Yuka Saso (148) and Patty Tavatanakit (150), both Major champions who were participants in the 2018 WAAP.

Sagstrom, who shared the runner-up spot at the AIG Women's Open at Carnoustie last year, again found links golf to her liking. The 29-year-old recorded eight birdies in a sparkling round of 65 that included back-to-back birdies to finish.

Buhai, who finished fifth in the championship at Woburn in 2019, briefly led the field after three birdies and an eagle at the par-five fifth in her opening six holes. A bogey at the last saw the 33-year-old drop into a tie for second with Sagstrom.

Park, who won at Turnberry in 2015 and has seven Major titles to her name, is well-placed after her 67 on day two. Five birdies, including one on the 18th, were offset with just one bogey for the 34-year-old Korean.

Scotland’s Louise Duncan, two strokes behind overnight, signed for a two-over 73. Three dropped shots in-a-row from the sixth damaged her hopes but the 22-year-old is still well-placed inside the top-20. Duncan and Ireland’s Leona Maguire are the leading players from Great Britain and Ireland in the field, both on two-under.

The cut for the top 65 players and ties fell at three-over-par, with exactly 65 progressing. Defending champion Anna Nordqvist was among those to miss out at four-over, as did the 2020 winner Sophia Popov on the same score. Local favourite and past champion Catriona Matthew also failed to progress to the weekend after finishing on seven-over.