Julieta Granada & Carlota Ciganda Share Lead Midway through the Tour Championship

By Elizabeth Bethel | Nov 21, 2014

Aug 14, 2014; Pittsford, NY, USA; Julieta Granada hits her tee shot on the 12th hole during the first round of the LPGA Championship at Monroe Golf Club. Mandatory Credit: Mark Konezny-USA TODAY Sports

The second round at the CME Group Tour Championship imposed some brutal tests of the players’ skill and endurance. Gusty winds grabbed balls in mid-flight. On a course with no rough, players who strayed from the short grass confronted huge waste areas, walled bunkers, wiry tufts of wild grass, and water. Showing us why she’s the world’s top-ranked golfer, Inbee Park made a gutsy shot from a bunker that could have ended in disaster but worked out as good as Park could have hoped. The intrepid Paula Creamer stripped off her shoes and socks and waded into the water to make an extraordinary save. And Stacy Lewis struggled, and struggled, and struggled.

The Leaders

Carlota Ciganda. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

Granada’s bogey-free first round 66 put her out in front for the start of Friday’s second round at Tiburón and Ciganda, who ended her first round with a 70, played some terrific golf — reminiscent of her performance at the 2013 Solheim Cup and again last summer at the International Crown — to close the 4 shot gap.

At the turn, Ciganda had cut Granada’s lead to 2 shots. With her birdie on the par-4 10th and Granada’s bogey on the par-3 12th, the pair was sharing the lead at 6-under par. Ciganda notched a birdie on the par-3 13 and briefly pulled ahead. Then Granada countered with a birdie on the par-4 15th and they were even again.

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When everybody was in the house, Carlota Ciganda and Julieta Granada were sharing the overnight lead and will go into the weekend of this no-cut finale to the LPGA 2014 season at 7-under par, one shot ahead of their closest challenger, Morgan Pressel.

Pressel, who’s 6-under par second round 66 was the low round of the day, was one of the few players today who’s play seemed unaffected by the gusty, unpredictable winds. Along with Cignanda, Pressel navigated Tiburón without dropping a shot, firing birdies on all the par-5s.

Wie’s On The Hunt

Michelle Wie.

The story that dominates the Tour Championship second round for me is Michelle Wie, who’s going into the weekend at 5-under par and sharing the fourth slot on the board with Sarah Jane Smith and Sandra Gal. Wie’s surprise eagle on the par-4 7th hole, where her 9-iron approach shot found the cup, gave her a big boost on the board and her strong 2nd round moved her up in the Race to the CME Globe projections to the Number 1 position.

So what happened to that three-way battle between Inbee Park, Stacy Lewis and Lydia Ko that seemed to be defining the parameters of the Tour Championship as well as the Race to the CME Globe as recently as 48 hours ago?

In this most unpredictable of all sports, the Rookie of the Year is outplaying the veterans, going into the weekend at 2-under par and sharing the 10th slot on the board with Brittany Lang, Jennifer Johnson and Jenny Shin. Ko’s playing steady, sub-par golf. With only 5 shots separating her from the leaders and 2 rounds to play, she could still find her groove on the Tiburón track. I don’t count Ko out yet.

Lewis, at 1-under par and sharing the 15th slot on the board, and Park, at 1-over par and sharing 37th place, are going to need to play some furious golf on Saturday and Sunday if they have any hope of salvaging their chance to capture that million dollar bonus. It’s not an impossible feat. They’re both seasoned competitors and, with the exception of Michelle Wie, they’re chasing a group of relatively inexperienced players.

The grande finale to the LPGA’s 2014 season has the potential to keep all of us on the edge of our seats until Sunday afternoon! It’s going to be the perfect ending to a season punctuated by one surprise after another — let’s enjoy it!

Third Round Schedule

Haeji Kang, Angela Stanford and Marina Alex lead off the third round of the CME Group Tour Championship at 8:45am Saturday morning and the leaders — Julieta Granada, Carlota Ciganda and Morgan Pressel — will be the last to take the tee, at 10:46am.

Golf Channel coverage of the round in progress begins at 1:30 pm. All times are ET.