Date: October 11, 2018
Author: Justin Falconer

Aussies 18 holes away from gold

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A sensational second day's play at the 2018 Youth Olympics has finished with Australians Grace Kim and Karl Vilips on top of their respective leaderboards in Argentina.

After an opening round 69 at The Hurlingham Club, Vilips went one better on Wednesday on his way to a 2-under 68 and a one stroke lead at 3-under.

The rising star made the turn in 1-under par after a rollercoaster front nine, before steadying the ship and picking up another stroke with birdie on 17.

Vilips leads American Akshay Bhatia by just one heading into the final round, with Thailand’s Vanchal Luangnitikul (1-under) the only other player in the 32-strong field to be in the red numbers.

In the girls event, New South Wales’ Kim will battle it out with Italian first round leader Alessia Nobilo in tomorrow’s final round.

Kim followed an opening 71 with a 69 on Wednesday to be back to even-par for the tournament, joined at that mark by the Italian.

The talented youngster was in a hurry to erase the overnight three-stroke deficit, rattling off a trio of consecutive birdies from the 2nd hole onwards in the morning, before grinding out nine straight pars on the way back to the clubhouse.

The leading duo is two strokes clear of the field and will duke it out tomorrow for gold.

Individual medals will be awarded after the 54-hole event, before a 72-hole team component kicks off following a rest day on Saturday.

Click here for the boys' leaderboard and click here to see the girls' standings.