Two Indians in top-15 at Queen Sirikit Cup in Japan as Korea set the pace

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CAPTION: File photo of Zara Anand (centre), the best-placed Indian at the Amateur Ladies Asia-Pacific Invitational Golf Team Championship in Miyazaki, Japan. Image courtesy IGU.

Rahul Banerji

Zara Anand built on her hard work of the opening day to be the best placed Indian after two rounds of the 45th Queen Sirikit Cup even as Mannat Brar had the best second round among the three Indians in contention at the Phoenix Seagaia Resort’s Tom Watson Golf Course in Miyazaki, Japan, on Thursday.

Zara, who opened with a 1 over par 73 added a 1 under 71 to climb into a share of 10th place after her overnight tied 12th, while Mannat, who reached the semi-final of the R&A Girl’s Amateur event last year, went 2 under 70 to go with her opening 77 and hold a share of 15th place.

India’s third entry at the regional event, Heena Kang (76-76), was tied for 28th place, the Indian Golf Union said.

The Indians, as a team, were fifth on Thursday, up two places from their first round placing in the 45th edition of the Amateur Ladies Asia-Pacific Invitational Golf Team Championship on 2 over 290 as South Korea were atop the leaderboard on 16 under 272.

Defending champion Soomin Oh and fellow South Korean Min Seo Jung led the way in the team event. Soomin, the tournament’s top-ranked player also topped the individual standings with cards of 69 and a sparkling 5 under 67 to hold a four-shot advantage over day 1 joint leader Aira Nagasawa (69-71) and Min (74-66).

Both Koreans took advantage of the ideal scoring conditions with Min improving on her first round score by a solid eight strokes to match China’s Zhou Shiyuan for the day’s best round.

In the team event where the two best daily scores from each of the 13 three-member teams are counted, Korea posted an imposing second round aggregate of 11 under par 133 for a 36-hole total of 16 under 272, six strokes ahead of overnight pace-setters Japan.

In the opening round, several pre-event favourites struggled to find their feet. There were 75s from Zhou Shiyuan and Xu Ying, both of whom boast victories on the China LPGA Tour, and 76s for Thailand’s Achiraya Sriwong and Mamika Shinchi of Japan, both of whom are in the top-50 of the World Amateur Golf Rankings.

Australian Sarah Hammett, the individual runner-up last year, signed for an 83 which included a triple-bogey eight at the par-five 16th.