Golf: Aditi continues fine run, lies sixth after second round in LPGA

Aditi Ashok continued her fine run this year as she added 5-under 67 to her first round 68 and climbed to 9-under to be placed tied sixth

Belmont: India’s Aditi Ashok continued her fine run this year as she added 5-under 67 to her first round 68 and climbed to 9-under to be placed tied sixth in the Meijer LPGA Classic golf tournament here.

Aditi, who has been knocking on the doors of victory this season, is bogey free for the first two rounds and trails leader Ayaka Furue of Japan, who shot a bogey-free 5-under 67, by two shots.

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Furue is 11-under for two rounds at Blythefield Country Club and enjoys a one-stroke lead into the weekend.

Aditi missed more fairways than the first day, but consistent iron play ensured a solid round.

Aditi started on the 10th and birdied her first hole of the day for a good beginning. She added one more on 18th and turned in 2-under.

On the second nine, the front side of the course, she added birdies on fourth, sixth and eighth to get to 5-under and a total of 9-under.

Aditi has been runner-up once this year and was T-5 at Cognizant Founders Cup and T-4 at Mizuho Americas Cup.

She is currently 20th on the LPGA Order of Merit and leads the Merit List in Europe, where she has had one win this year besides two other Top-3 finishes.

The shortest player on the LPGA Tour, Furue, 23, was one of the five leaders in the first-round.
She was then bogey free in the second round after a 66 in the first round which had seven birdies and one bogey.

Hyo Joo Kim (65), Leona Maguire (65), Carlota Ciganda (66) and Amy Yang (67) were a stroke back.
Defending champion Jennifer Kupcho (69) was 9-under along with Manon De Roey (65), Aditi (67), Minjee Lee (67), Emily Kristine Pedersen (68) and Lindsey Weaver-Wright (69).

Kupcho had six birdies and three bogeys a day after a bogey-free 66. Ciganda eagled the par-5 fourth and eighth holes. She holed a “pitch shot” from 50 yards on No. 4 and made a 15-foot putt on eighth.

Ashleigh Buhai, the winner last week in New Jersey, was 8-under after her second 68.
Lexi Thompson and Lydia Ko missed the cut.