Indian golfer Aditi Ashok carded an even par 72 to make the cut at the LPGA Kia Classic taking place at Carlsbad, California on Saturday.
Aditi, who had a first round 2-under 70, is now 2-under 142 for a tied-43rd at the halfway stage. One birdie on the front nine neutralised by a bogey on the back nine meant a 72. A day earlier, she had four birdies, but uncharacteristically dropped bogeys on two par-5s for a 70.
The Bengaluru-based golfer, who found 12 of the 14 fairways on the first day, dropped to just seven in 14 on second day, but she did find 14 out of 18 and 12 of out 18 greens on the two days.
Her problem was the greens, where she did not hole many putts, missing numerous birdie chances. Meanwhile, Cristie Kerr, winner in Kia Classic in 2015, is five shots ahead of the field through the second round.
The 40-year-old American set the 36-hole tournament scoring record (131, -13) with rounds of 67 and 64. Kerr’s second round 64 (-8) was her lowest round this season and her lowest ever in this event. She is looking for her first win of the 2018 season after two wins in 2017.
Sitting in a tie for second at 8-under par are In-Kyung Kim (67-69) and Hee Young Park (66-70) of the Republic of Korea, Sweden’s Caroline Hedwall (66-70) and American Lizette Salas (69-67).
A total of 83 players made it into the weekend at the Kia Classic after the cut line fell at even par.
Shubhankar loses third league match at Match Play
Shubhankar Sharma came up with a late rally but it was not enough to fetch him his first WGC-Dell Match Play win as he went down to another first-timer South African Dylan Frittelli in the third league match at Austin, Texas.
The third loss meant Sharma finished at the bottom of the four-man pool, but would have been richer with the experience in his first taste of Match Play since his win way back in All India Amateurs in 2013.
The 21-year-old Sharma, who is due to play at Houston next week and then carries on at the Masters on an invite, acquitted himself well by taking Sergio Garcia to the 18th and losing to Frittelli on the 18th.
Against Xander Schauffele, Sharma lost 3&1 at the WGC event. Asia’s big star was Kiradech Aphibarnrat, who won all his three matches. He scored a great win over World No. 3 Jon Rahm 4&3 and with a 3-0 record, he marched into the knock-out phase, where he meets Charles Howell III.
The day’s big match-up was between Patrick Reed and Jordan Spieth, where the former won 2&1 and moved into the knock-out stages. Spieth was somewhat at a loss two weeks ahead of Masters.
Spieth was totally out of sorts, hitting his opening tee shot onto the range and out-of-bounds. He hit into a hazard on each of the next two holes. And when he finally caught Reed with consecutive shots to tap-in range, he missed two key putts inside 6 feet.
As Reed moves in search of his second WGC, Spieth heads to Houston Open without a top 10 in his last seven tournaments.
(With inputs from PTI)
Buy an annual Scroll Membership to support independent journalism and get special benefits.
Our journalism is for everyone. But you can get special privileges by buying an annual Scroll Membership. Sign up today!