LIVE SCORES: www.womensausopen.com/scores
The race for low amateur at the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open will, sadly, not contain a local presence.
After promising starts on Thursday, both national championship debutants Alizza Hetherington and Karis Davidson took a terminal slide down the leaderboard past the even-par cut.
Queenslander Davidson, 18, who began her round at one under, was still at that figure and looking promising standing on the 16th tee until a bogey-par-bogey finish consigned her to a 75 and one-over par total.
Hetherington, 16, of Melbourne, was thrilled that she was able to relax into her opening even-par 73, but couldn’t find that same calmness on course in today’s round of 79.
Her six-over total left her equal parts disappointed and inspired to fare better should she return for a second Open in the future.
It’s probably no surprise that world No.4 amateur Hye-jin Choi continues her romp around the Australian summer with another stellar performance today at Royal Adelaide.
The 2015 world junior champion and newly minted Australian Amateur champ added a second round 72 to her opening 71 and is not out of overall contention at three-under.
Her only threat in the quest to be low amateur is impressive Taiwanese youngster Heather Lin who fell from her even-par start today to be three over through seven holes.
But four back-nine birdies eventually let her off the rollercoaster again at even par and into the weekend action.
Not so lucky were her compatriots Han-Hsuan Yu (+6), Jo-Hua Hung (+8) and Hsin Yu Lu (+10).