SINGAPORE - South Korea's Park In-bee and Park Hee-young headed into the weekend rounds of the HSBC Women's World Championship in joint first place after firing matching two-day totals of 11-under 133 on Friday.
Olympic gold medallist Park In-bee was on track to finish the day on top, until her compatriot birdied the closing par-four 18th to draw level at the tournament in Singapore.
Park In-bee had stumbled early with a bogey on the third hole but quickly regained her composure with three successive birdies from the seventh hole.
However, the putting that worked so well for her on the opening day let her down after dropping another shot on 12.
"It was a little betrayal of my putter today. I misread a few putts, but I still feel like I fought pretty well," she said.
The world number two bounced back with birdies on holes 13 and 15 before carding three straight pars to sign for a three-under 69 at the Sentosa Golf Club.
Park Hee-young, who is chasing her fourth LPGA victory this week, carded her first birdie on the sixth hole after five straight pars. She reached the turn in 35 and birdied 10 to move to nine-under.
The 33-year-old then dropped a shot on the next hole but recovered quickly with another two birdies on 12 and 13 to card four-under-par 68.
Like Park In-bee, she struggled with her putting.
"I missed a lot of birdie putts. Some of them were really close and perhaps I might have forced it a little too hard," she said.
But she said she was determined to keep her focus on the 18th, and that "worked out really well".
Park Hee-young surprised even herself, as she did not have high expectations coming into the event.
"I've nothing to lose. I hope to win but I'm not going to force it too much. So I just enjoy myself out there and try to have fun tomorrow and Sunday," she said.
The Singapore tournament is the because of the coronavirus pandemic.
It is also serving as a warm-up for the Tokyo Olympics as it features all the women's medallists from Rio 2016. - AFP. April 30, 2021
