Ryu ahead as Royal Melbourne fights back

BY Bruce Young | LPGA Tour | 2012 ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open | Round Two | 10 Feb 2012

The two golfers who featured in a playoff playoff for last year’s US Women’s Open will again face off against each other tomorrow when the third round of the ISPS Handa Australian Women’s Open is played at Royal Melbourne.

Gentle morning breezes turned to stronger southerly winds as the day wore on in today’s second round and the scores blew out. It was once again evidence of the nature of this golf course and that even the slightest of breezes can change the playing charcteristics considerably.

Korean So Yeon Ryu, who won the greatest event in women’s golf last year, the US Women’s Open, and her fellow countrywoman, Hee Kyung Seo, will play in the final group tomorrow with Ryu a one shot leader over Seo. There is one further shot back to a group of four players, several of who had their chance to challenge the lead Ryu had set early on day two.

That group includes Americans Stacey Lewis and Jessica Korda, England’s Melissa Reid and Paraguayan Julieta Granada.

Lewis, the current Kraft Nabisco champion, actually took the lead at 7 under par when she birdied four of his first 13 holes in the afternoon field but at the 14th she found trouble from the tee and took triple bogey.

Ryu is making a habit of leading tournaments. After a second round of 61 at the Gold Coast RACV Australian Ladies Masters last week in Queensland, she led until Christel Boeljon birdied the 72nd hole to grab the title.

She is currently the 25th ranked player in the field but clearly she is deserving of a much higher standing than that, her relatively lowly ranking due to her not playing the LPGA Tour on a regular basis prior to or since the US Open victory. She will do so in 2012 however and it is fair to say that at the end of the year she could well be amongst the elite of the game in terms of her ranking. Many would say she is already is in reality.

As she had indicated last week at Royal Pines, Ryu said she had continued to focus on just relying on feel on the greens rather than getting to bogged down with technique.

“Today my plan was always just par,” said Ryu. “This course is really tough. Last week I played really well but I had a problem. My coach found the problem. Sometimes I lose concentration. He wanted me to feel putt on the putting green. I practised just feeling putts. Sometimes, if I am really nervous, my routine is so fast. If I am nervous, I just slow down and really focus on my ball. I think the tee shot is really important. My driver and three wood are almost perfect. I felt really great.”

Ryu also very candidly indicated that she might have placed too many expectations on herself last week.

“In the final round I was really nervous. I think the reason was that I really wanted to win the tournament…I think it was really the high expectations of myself. I was thinking about just winning and trophy. Maybe I lost concentration. But it was great learning for me. It was a good time. It was really great study for me.”

Ryu has not won since her US Open victory but she has been a regular contender as she is again this week.

Not long after Ryu had finished her media conference it was the turn of Seo whose round of 66 was the women’s course record. Included in her brilliant round were nine birdies and two bogeys.

“It is very hard to play this great course," she said. “I know it is not an easy course so I was nervous. But I trust myself and I trust my caddie and try to come in on my target. My routine worked and I am very happy today.”

The 25 year old is a multiple winner on the Korean LPGA Tour and a one time winner on the LPGA Tour and a win against this company is not beyond her. Her caddie, ironically enough, just happens to be the same man who caddied for Ryu in the playoff for the US Open. Dean Herden is an Australian who worked for Jiyai Shin during the stretch when she was world number one, Ryu and now Seo.

Herden has been instrumental in bringing groups of Koreans and Japanese down to Australia during the northern winter in order that they may prepare for the coming year. This year his group stayed at Pelican Wasters on the Sunshine Coast.

“He is not just a caddie for me,” said Seo. “He is like a brother, a dad sometimes, a friend. He makes me really comfortable all the time. Sometimes he pushes me hard. Not on the course but in training. I am very happy and very thankful to him.”

Herden is caddying for Seo for the first occasion having worked the last few LPGA Tour events of 2011 in Asia for her and last week at the event on the Gold Coast.

Melissa Reid finished runner-up in this event last year and although she missed the cut last week in Queensland she indicated even then that she was looking forward to playing a golf course where there was a greater emphasis on accuracy.

Playing early in the day, Reid birdied two of her first four holes to join the lead and although she dropped shots in the middle of her round she birdied two of her last four holes to be at 4 under and two behind Ryu when the morning group had finished.

Lewis made steady progress in her round and when she stood on the 14th tee she was 7 under for the tournament and had the outright lead. A pulled tee shot, which failed to clear the corner, finished in the trees and bush and led to a triple bogey. She dropped two further shots but to her credit bounced back with an eagle at her 17th hole to be within just two despite what must have been an unsettling stretch during her final nine holes.

Paraguayan golfer, Granada, won on the LPGA Tour in her rookie season in 2006; in fact she set a money earning record for a rookie that year. Through ten holes of her second round she was at 5 under and within one of the lead and was still on that score playing the last but a bogey there on what is the most difficult hole on the golf course saw her finish two behind.

Korda has an interesting pedigree. Her father Petr won the Australian Tennis Open in 1998 and she is considered by many good judges to have a fine golfing career ahead of her. An eagle at her 11th hole was the highlight of her day and took her to 5 under and within one of Ryu but she would drop two further shots and add one birdie for a round of 70.

There is a gap of three shots back to a group of three players at 1 under, namely Brittany Lincicome, Lorie Kane and Sandra Gal, that group completing only nine players who have finished under par for the tournament.

The major surprise on day two was the downward spiral of the pre tournament favourite Yani Tseng. Tseng began her round three off the pace set by Ryu earlier in the day and when she birdied two of her first three holes she was within one and appeared very threatening.

Almost inexplicably however she would drop seven shots in her next five holes and her chances of a third consecutive victory appeared to be slipping from her grasp. To her credit and very much against the tide she found a way to play her last nine holes in two under and at even par and six from the lead she is not yet out of it.

Her quadruple bogey at 7th came from a pulled tee shot and then a disastrous attempt to escape.

Suzann Pettersen went the other way in some respects. After an opening round of 80 she recorded a round of 70 to have safely made the cut. The world number two’s opening day horrors were almost too bad to be true and today she proved that was the case.

The leading Australian is Nikki Campbell who is at even par and six from the lead.

Karrie Webb’s early season woes continued as she puts swing changes under the gun in tournament conditions. She is in 32nd position at 4 over and will be in the weekend field.

The cut will fall at 7 over.

Discuss this article in our forums