Soo Bin Joo takes a four-stroke lead into the final round of the ShopRite LPGA after another strong showing Saturday in Galloway, N.J.
Joo, who was three strokes back after Friday’s opening round, maintained her momentum on a day where the scores were much higher, shooting a 3-under-par 68 to surge out to 8 under for the tournament.
After an opening round where the best round was 8 under and five players shot 6 under or better, the Bay Course at Seaview Hotel & Golf Club showed its teeth on Saturday with an assist from some heavy wind. The best score of the second round was 3 under and only 20 of the 139 competitors in action shot under par.
Joo didn’t get off to a great start with a bogey on the first hole of the day. But that proved to be her only mishap as she was blemish-free the rest of the way, posting four birdies, including on each of the final two holes.
The 22-year-old South Korean is seeking her first career LPGA victory.
“Winning (a) LPGA tournament (would be) a dream come true,” Joo said after her round. “I started playing golf because I want to win a tournament on LPGA, so it will be super fun, very exciting.”
Joo is twice as far below par as anyone else in the field. Four strokes behind her is a logjam of five players tied at 4 under. That includes twin Japanese sisters Chizzy and Aki Iwai — who both shot 3 under Saturday — South Korea’s Somi Lee (69), France’s Celine Boutier (72) and Israel’s Laetitia Beck (75).
Chizzy Iwai appeared destined for a disappointing finish when she spoiled a 3-under score with consecutive bogeys at the par-3 seventh and par-4 eighth. However, she redeemed that with an eagle at the par-5 ninth, finishing with the fewest putts of anyone on the day, 24.
“It was so lucky,” Iwai said of her round-closing eagle. “At the second shot when I hit the moment, I felt so good. And then, yeah, chipping, it’s a little bit lucky because a little bit too strong (of a) shot. But, yeah I believe it was (a) good shot.”
Beck, who shot a bogey-free 8-under 63 on Friday, fell back to the pack by shooting 4 over in the second round. Starting on the back nine, she had identical results on each half of the course, pairing three bogeys with a birdie on both the front and back.
She hit 11 of 14 fairways, but managed to hit just 8 of 18 greens in regulation and needed 30 putts to complete her round.
“Today was extremely windy, so (it) definitely was much harder to judge club selections, and putts were also much harder,” Beck said. “That’s where I pretty much struggled today. I didn’t make putts, but I think I misjudged a little bit a few times with the wind being so long leaving it short, and then the chip was pretty tough. Yeah, so I learned a lot from those mistakes.”
Beck wasn’t alone in struggling to build off momentum of a strong opening round. Each of the six players who shot 6 under or better in the opening round shot 3 over or worse in the second.
Defending champion Jennifer Kupcho followed a disappointing first round with an even worse second round (77) to fall to 9 over and miss the cut at 3-over 145.
