Australia’s Minjee Lee and America’s Megan Khang sit together atop the leaderboard after day two on 8-under par. While Lee reached the eight under mark with a tidy nine birdies and a single bogey over the two days, Khang’s route was rather more adventurous with her first two rounds featuring a total of 12 birdies and four bogeys.
Only two shots back are the trio of Olympic gold medallist, Lydia Ko, England’s top ranked player, Charley Hull and America’s Lauren Coughlin, fresh from winning her first LPGA event in Canada last month. Minjee Lee strengthened her position at the top of the leaderboard with a three under par 69 today.
“I really enjoy coming back to Scotland playing the Scottish and also the British whenever I can. I just love links courses. Obviously the last few years, we probably haven’t had as much wind as The Scottish Open. But yeah, I feel like playing true links-style course and conditions, so it’s a lot more fun.”
Three-time Solheim Cup player Megan Khang added another round of 68 to bring her total to -8, tying for first place going into the weekend at Dundonald Links.
“I’ve been hitting the ball pretty solid this entire year, and the difference has been making the putts. This week I have been a little bit more fortunate to make the putts. It’s just kind of golf. It’s always between the ears that gets you going and coming into this week with next week being St Andrews, I’ve just been trying to embrace links golf and have some fun and just really embrace Mother Nature because it’s going to be wild out there. It’s going to be fun, but it’s also going to be a challenge that you just have to look at the bright side of things.”
Lydia Ko, after two 69s sits two-back, and feels confident about the way she has been adjusting to conditions…
“My ball-striking was good, which helps in conditions like this. I think I played the wind a lot better today than I had early in my round yesterday. So, I feel like I’m slowly getting adjusted to the wind because I kind of have to. I saw the forecast for the next couple days and it’s just as windy as today. It’s a lot of creativity is required when the wind is this much because I have to hit a 3-wood from 175 which is normally a 5-iron distance. I think it’s kind of out of the ordinary situations, but you just have to adjust to the situations really quick.”
England’s Charley Hull, who moved up into second place with a fine 68, has softened her stance towards links golf which has often seen her lament over her lack of success on the links courses of the UK, preferring parkland courses…
“I think I’m just embracing it more. I do like links golf. I love links golf. But usually my game, I find it hard to play in, especially a tournament because I feel like my game is built for America. But the last few weeks, me and my coach have been working on doing more three-quarter swings so I can do a low ball flight for the British Open. So I think it is actually paying off.”
Lauren Coughlin, who claimed her first LPGA victory at the CPKC Open last month, has managed to keep her good form going…
“I think, you know, I felt just obviously amazing after the win. But I feel like I still want to do it again and so I’m thinking about bigger goals and honestly just feeling super grateful and just trying to keep doing what I’m doing and obviously it was working. So I’m just not really changing anything.”
About the new title partner ISPS HANDA
ISPS Handa’s vision is to use sport as a platform to make the world a better place, by using the power of sport to unite communities and by giving people a chance to live better lives through sport. ISPS Handa is a Japanese-based philanthropic organisation that combines donations from individuals and companies to invest into a broad platform of events, programs and people with the aim of using the power of sport to achieve positive things in the world. ISPS Handa started as a vehicle to help blind people and people with other disabilities to live more fulfilled lives, and while the scope of the organisation has broadened significantly, helping people with disabilities remains a major priority for the organisation. ISPS Handa sponsors a range of events globally including a number that cater to people with disabilities. We currently or recently have supported events in Australia, Japan, USA, New Zealand, Ireland, Germany, Netherlands, England, Spain, Wales and Singapore most of which include a disability focus.
ISPS Handa sponsors a number of sports and organisations and golf has always been an important sport due to its ability to offer opportunities for people with disabilities and its global nature. Since its creation, ISPS Handa has partnered with many of the world’s most prominent sporting bodies including, LPGA, LET, R&A, PGA Tour, DPWT, PGA Tour of Australasia, Golf Australia, Rugby Australia, Wheelchair Rugby Australia, Invictus, Sentebale, Halberg and NZ Football Federation to name a few.
Photo credit: ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open
