Lorena Ochoa Invitational Presented by Banamex and JTBC
Mexico City, Mexico
Club de Golf Mexico
Round 2 News & Notes
Minjee Lee jumped out to a hot start early with birdies on four of the first six and never looked back on her way to the 36-hole lead at the Lorena Ochoa Invitational Presented by Banamex and JTBC. Lee’s second consecutive 3-under-par 69 gave her a one-shot lead heading into the weekend - the first time she’s ever had to sleep on the 36-hole lead.
“I just holed a couple 12-15 footers and on the par fives, I was kind of close,” Lee said.
Lee leads a quartet of players at 5-under-par - Christina Kim, Sei Young Kim, Angela Stanford and Inbee Park - by one shot and says her approach won’t change with the lead in hand.
“The same, there’s nothing different I’m going to do on the golf course,” Lee said. “I’m going to stick to my golf and take it one shot at a time. I’m not feeling much different.”
Defending champion Christina Kim and 2015 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year Sei Young Kim both went out in the early groups after first round 73s but shot their way back into contention with a pair of 6-under-par 66s - the best rounds of the championship so far. Christina said her lucky charm was Lorena Ochoa, who came out to watch her play the 12th and 13th holes, which she birdied both.
“I just needed to go back to what I was doing last year, just enjoying it,” Christina said. “What Lorena did, it was so cool cause she came to watch me on holes 12 and 13, and the kids, the brother and the father, and I birdied the holes that they came to watch me so it was really awesome. It’s just everything about this place, the people, the culture, the food. There’s nothing negative you could really say about this tournament. It’s just wonderful.”
Park entered the day with a one-shot lead but didn’t have her best stuff, hitting only 11 greens in a 1-under-par 71 effort.
“Not a great ball striking day today, but I still feel really good about the putter,” Park said. “Just a few bad shots, too many bogeys. I made an eagle and a few birdies but still too many mistakes.”
In this 36-player field, there are 10 players within three shots of the lead and 15 players within five shots of the lead entering the weekend.
FEELING AT HOME SOUTH OF THE BORDER
Christina Kim may be a Bay Area native, but she’s feeling at home this week in Mexico City. Certain golf courses just fit a player’s eye and Club de Golf Mexico certainly fits hers.
“Everything. I love the fact that there are tight fairways and you’ve got old trees that show there is a lot of history to this course,” Kim said. “A lot of difficult greens with high heights which I personally love. I love being able to use my imagination and I like the idea of having to play shots. This course reminds me of a lot of courses I grew up playing in California. There’s no humidity here so that helps me a lot that I’m not sweating.”
Kim also feels comfortable in the position she’s in, playing from behind rather than with the lead. She had to play with the lead wire to wire a year ago and admitted that it’s a different feeling.
“I think chasing is a little terrifying,” she said. “Last year was my first wire-to-wire victory and I couldn’t sleep the Sunday after I won for a number of reasons, one of them was that I was just like ‘Holy crap, you are the one that everyone wants to go after and that’s scary but you know just having the opportunity to be close to the leaderboard is awesome, and whatever ends up happening over the weekend, I’ll take it on and just remember how lucky I am to be here.”
FORGET THE SWING CHANGE
It sounds strange to say but after her win at the Blue Bay LPGA, Sei Young Kim started working on a swing change with her coach. It took only 18 holes for her to throw it out. She got to the range in the morning and went back to her old swing, which seemingly worked a little better considering she shot the round of the tournament - a 6-under-par 66 Friday to vault her way back into contention.
“Today I really adjusted my swing in the morning,” Kim said. “It worked. I had a lot of birdie chances, and so it was a good day.”
“I really fixed my swing with my coach but it wasn’t really working in the first round so I came back to my old swing.”
Kim found her old swing just in time as she’ll need a win this week to vault into the top three for the Race to the CME Globe standings heading into the CME Group Tour Championship, which would guarantee that a win at the season’s final stop and she’ll also win the $1 million prize at the end of the race.
“Oh yeah, this is my last opportunity,” Kim said. “So, if I can, I hope I win this week and I will try my best. I will try to play very well.”
A BITTERSWEET SPOT IN THE FIELD
Christina Kim found out five minutes before she teed off Thursday that because of a withdrawal, her money would be official. As a sponsor invite, it wouldn’t have been until Danielle Kang had to withdraw with an illness. Had Kim known the way things would have transpired, she wouldn’t have had to take a sponsor exemption from the tournament and said after her round Friday that she was bummed as the defending champion that she even put the tournament in the position to where she needed a sponsor’s exemption to compete.
“It was a little bittersweet. I would have liked to have played better at the beginning of the year so obviously I wouldn’t have had to have Lorena give me one of the sponsor invites,” Kim said. “I know how much the future of Mexican golf means to them, and it would have been great for them to have a spot for another Mexican player. If I’m being honest it made me a little bit sad and it was a little bit hard because it’s such a great tournament and it’s just 36 players and number 37 should be here, it was very bittersweet.”
This is a tournament that means more to Kim than almost any other player in the field. Not only is she the defending champion, but Ochoa’s a dear friend. She admitted as a result that she was putting too much pressure on her game in the first round and tried to remedy that in the second round.
“Honestly I was texting with my boyfriend this morning and I was telling him that I was having difficulty finding the inspiration that I wanted,” Kim said, “because I want to win every tournament that I enter, it’s just that this tournament means so much to me that I was giving myself too much pressure and I just needed to go back to what I was doing last year.”
NUMBERS TO KNOW
0 - Minjee Lee has never held the 36-hole lead
4 - Minjee Lee birdied four of her first six holes Friday.
10 - There are 10 players in the 36-player field within three shots of Minjee Lee’s solo lead.
12 - 12 of Inbee Park’s 16 career wins have come when she trailed the lead after 36 holes.
33 - Inbee Park trails Lydia Ko by 33 points in the Rolex Player of the Year standings and needs at least an eighth this week to keep Ko from locking up the award.
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