IRELAND’S STEPHANIE MEADOW slipped back in Friday’s second round of the LPGA Kia Classic as LPGA Hall of Famer Park In-bee of South Korea fired a three-under par 69 to keep a one-stroke lead.
Park, whose 20 LPGA victories include seven major titles, reeled off four birdies against a lone bogey to stand on nine-under par 135 after 36 holes at Aviara, north of San Diego.
After an excellent opening round of 68, Meadow shot 75 yesterday to drop back to one-under to lie eight shots further back.
The damage was done on the back nine, Meadow’s front nine, with bogeys on the 10th, 13th, 15th and 16th. Her play did improve after that as she carded ten pars and one birdie, on the 7th, in her last 11 holes.
Meadow is tied for 17th with fellow Irish golfer Leona Maguire back in a tie for 50th. She shot a 74 after her first round of 72.
Maguire did make early progress with birdies on the 3rd and 4th along with a succession of pars leaving her two-under for the day after the 12th. She hadn’t dropped a shot by that point but her form slumped with a bogey on the 13th, double bogey on the 15th and another bogey on the 17th.
It’s Park’s first event of the year as she prepares for next week’s ANA Inspiration, the LPGA’s first major tournament, at Rancho Mirage, California.
Germany’s Sophia Popov fired a second 68 to stand second on 136 with England’s Mel Reid third on 138, South Korea’s eighth-ranked Kim Hyo-joo fourth on 139 and Taiwan’s Hsu Wei-ling fifth on 140.
World number four Park, who began off the 10th tee, birdied the par-4 12th and birdied three of the first five holes after making the turn — the par-4 first, par-3 third and par-5 fifth — before making her only bogey at the par-4 seventh.
Eighth-ranked Kim is playing her first LPGA event since November of 2019 after two wins on the Korean LPGA circuit last year.
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Murray Kinsella, Bernard Jackman and Gavan Casey field listeners’ questions about Ireland’s victory over England before turning their attention to the club game, and Super Rugby in the Pacific Islands, prospective law trials up north and, of course, this weekend’s Pro14 final between old rivals.
