Carlota Ciganda, Inbee Park & Azahara Munoz Ready for 3rd Round Women’s Champions Battle
Aug 17, 2013; Parker, CO, USA; Carlota Ciganda (right) and Azahara Munoz (left) of team Europe react after winning the seventh hole over team U.S. during the second round of the 2013 Solheim Cup at the Colorado Golf Club. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports
When the cards were signed and everybody was in the house, 45th-ranked Carlota Ciganda, looking closeer to notching her first Tour victory, and 2nd-ranked Inbee Park, who’s working hard to play her way back to the top of the rankings, shared the lead at the HSBC Women’s Champions and are sleeping on a 2-shot lead over their closest challenger, Ciganda’s Solheim Cup and International Crown teammate, Azahara Munoz. Munoz lost the Women’s Champions last year to Paula Creamer in that dramatic playoff, and she’d like to take home the trophy this year. What a weekend this is shaping up to be!
. . . being able to do a bogey-free round on this golf course I think is very good. . . -Inbee Park
Unlike her rival,
Lydia Ko
, Park pulled that steady, consistent, down-the-middle-and-into-the cup game that took her to the top of the rankings and kept her there for more than a year out of her bag for the 2nd round. She hit 13 out of 14 fairways off the tee and arrived at 83% of the greens in regulation and carded a flawless 69. She’s been at this place many times, and she knows what she needs to do now, and she knows how to do it.
Azahara Munoz, Beatriz Recari, Carlota Cignada & Belen Mozo (L-R), 2014 International Crown.
Ciganda and Munoz were both delivering fine 2nd rounds as well, Ciganda’s 66 taking low round of the day and Munoz’s 67 putting her in solo 3rd place going into the weekend. The Spaniards, who played in the same Spanish amateur teams in their teens and teamed up with Beatriz Recari and Belen Mozo to take the first International Crown home, spent today chasing each other up the leader-board in the second round of the Women’s Champions at Sentosa.
A bit further down the board, Lydia Ko uncharacteristically sent shots spraying left and right, doubled the par-4 13 and somehow still managed to shoot a 2-under 70. She’s lined up alongside 2013 Women’s Champion winner Stacy Lewis, Jenny Shin and 2011 Women’s Champion winner Karrie Webb at 6-under and trailing the co-leaders by just three strokes going into the weekend.
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Lewis and Webb both prefer to go into the last half of a tournament chasing the lead rather than defending it, and I’m looking for them to pick up the pace in the 3rd round. I expect Shin, who’s on the hunt for her first Tour win and who had a strong top-5 finish at the Women’s Australian Open, to keep pace.
After a strong start Yani Tseng fell off during the 2nd round and carded a birdie-free 75. She’s started her 3rd round with a bogey, but Tseng’s not finished. She’s working with a new coach and a new attitude. She made a good recovery last week in Thailand and she can do it again in Singapore.
Media Coverage Update
Golf Channel will broadcast all the action and all times listed are U.S. ET. Golf Channel will also stream LIVE coverage of Rounds 2, 3, and the Final Round on the Golf LIVE Extra app/golfchannel.com from 11pm-3am ET Thursday, Friday, and Saturday evening. Follow the action live @HSBCWomenschampions – a daily special two hour program streaming live at https://www.hsbcgolf.com/womens/tournament-info/live/