America’s Auston Kim, who is lying one shot ahead of Minjee Lee and Ariya Jutanugarn at the half way stage of the HSBC Women’s World Championship at Sentosa Golf Club, was shaping up for the golfing experience of her life when she was 11 under par after 33 holes. That, though, was when her lead plummeted to a one shot affair because of a four-putt seven at the 16th.
Though a shaking of her shoulders before she tackled her second shot at this uphill par five had hinted that nerves were becoming a factor, she was still safely aboard the left side of the green in three. Nothing to worry about, you would have thought…
Her first putt – a longish one – was excellent, leaving her with something between a two-footer and a tap-in.
It did not behave like that. The ball shot two and a half feet past, and then she missed putt No. 3. You have probably seen the goings-on on TV, for it was shown again and again. Hopefully, Auston missed all that.
Just as golfers used to insist that they putted well but the putts didn’t drop, so Auston had an explanation all on her own. “This is a kind of byproduct of what I’m doing well, and I feel Iike I’m doing a lot of things well. I hit a lot of good shots. I hit a lot of bad shots. So probably got to clean it up a little bit, but overall it was a pretty solid day of work.”
The 25-year-old has one win to her name thus far – it was on the Epson Tour — and who would not want to see her succeeding in as big a championship as this.
It was interesting that Auston never mentioned the ants who had created a disturbance at the 13th and resulted in her group being put on the clock. China’s Yan Liu, who had opened with a 67, had hit into the ants’ den in the trees on the left. Were they Fire ants, Crazy ants or Ghost ants? Who knows, but Singaporeans are apparently rather fond of them and there’s even a ‘Just Ants’ shop in the city selling 30 different species. Whatever, the creatures did not take to Liu or her caddie, who was soon thrashing them from her legs.
Next, Liu suspected they had crawled up her trouser legs. A referee gave her a free drop, but by the 14th it looked as if her nose was becoming itchy. The poor girl ended up with a 74.
There were two 64s on the second day – one from Angel Yin, who missed a makable putt for a 63, and the other from Minjee Lee. Minjee, who had an eagle at the second, seemed to have benefited from a winter break. “I had a bunch of time off this year,” she said, without saying what she had been doing other than staying fit.
She was playing with Charley Hull, who had been in hospital on Saturday with what she described as ‘health problems’. After an opening 72, she returned a 67 for which the hospital staff would no doubt have taken the credit.
