The Hindu : Sport / Golf : Phatlum stays ahead

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Friday, Mar 28, 2008
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Sport - Golf

Phatlum stays ahead

Rakesh Rao

GURGAON: Until an hour after a second successive two-under 70, Pornanong Phatlum stayed in the comfort zone with a handy lead. Then came China’s Wang Chun with a dream finish, a spectacular four-birdie blitz, to move within two strokes of the Thai teenager on the second day of the $120,000 DLF Women’s Indian Open golf championship here on Thursday.

Phatlum, winner of the Thailand Open in February, fired a rare eagle and five birdies to stay in the lead. Like on the first day, the 18-year-old dropped a shot on the last hole but had reasons to be pleased with performance so far at the DLF Golf and Country Club.

Wang, two-over at the turn after four bogeys, birdied five times on the home nine to card a 69, the best score so far in the competition.

Indian hope Smriti Mehra picked up a shot on the 15th hole to card a second straight 73 to be placed ninth. Her tally of 146 left her six shots off the lead. “I will go all out tomorrow,” declared the seasoned pro.

Irina Brar, considered India’s best bet after Smriti, struggled to come to terms with her back injury and was sharing the 35th place after an 81 that included a double-bogey and seven bogeys. On the brighter side, several other Indians, including promising amateurs Sharmila Nicollet and Tanya Wadhwa besides the experienced pro trio of Nonita Lall Qureshi, Shalini Malik and Vandana Agarwal came up with improved scores. Sharmila followed her first-round 79 with a 73 and Tanya carded a 75 against her opening round 77.

The scores: Pornanong Phatlum (Tha) (70, 70) 140; Wang Chun (Chn) (73, 69) 142; Yuki Sakurai (73, 70) 143; Huei-Ju Shih (Tpe) (72, 72), Lidya Ivana Jaya (Ina) (71, 73) 144; Yun Jue Wei (Tpe) (74, 71), Jenni Kuosa (Fin) (71, 74), Nontaya Srisawang (73, 72) 145; Smriti Mehra (73. 73) 146.

Other Indians: Sharmila Nicollet (A) (79, 73), Tanya Wadhwa (A) (77,75) 152; Irina Brar (76, 81), Nalini Singh (81,76) 157; Sanya Sharma (80, 78) 158; Gauri Monga (A) (83, 77) 160; Nonita Lall Qureshi (86, 75) 161; Shalini Malik (86, 77) 163; Gurbani Singh (A) (81, 86), Parnita Garewal (82, 85) 167; Sonavi Chopra (A) (83, 87), Seema Sobti (84, 86), Meher Atwal (A) (84, 86), Vandana Agarwal (86, 84) 170; Pallavi Jain (85, 87), Inderpreet Kaur (88, 85) 173; Nikki Ponappa (87, 87) 174; Neha Tripathi (A) (89, 86) 175.

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