Zara Anand moves to Top-10 at Queen Sirikit Cup golf, best placed among all Indians

Miyazaki (Japan), May 14 (IANS) Mannat Brar had the best second round among the three compatriots at the 45th Queen Sirikit Cup, but Zara Anand continued to be the best-placed Indian after two rounds of competition here on Wednesday.

Mannat, who reached the semifinal of the R&A Girls’ Amateur event last year, shot 2-under 70 while Zara (73-71) shot 1-under 71. Zara moved from T-12 to T-10, while Mannat (77-70) rose from T-25 to T-15. The third player, Heena Kang (76-76), is T-28.

The Indians, as a team, are lying fifth, two places up from the first round.

Oh Soo-min and Jung Min-seo sprang to the fore as Korea cruised to the top of the leaderboard at the halfway stage.

Oh, the defending individual champion and the tournament’s top-ranked player, followed her opening 69 with a sparkling five-under-par 67 on the Tom Watson Golf Course at the Phoenix Seagaia Resort.

Also taking advantage of the ideal scoring conditions was Jung, who improved on her first-round 74 by eight strokes, matching China’s Zhou Shiyuan for the best round of the day, which was played at the Phoenix Seagaia Resort.

In the event in which the best two daily scores from each of the 13 three-player teams are counted, Korea posted a formidable second-round aggregate of 11-under 133. With a 36-hole total of 16-under 272, the Koreans will take a six-stroke lead from overnight pace-setters Japan into Thursday’s penultimate round.

The Queen Sirikit Cup, officially the Asia-Pacific Amateur Ladies Golf Team Championship, is an annual amateur team golf championship for women organised by the Asia-Pacific Golf Confederation. The inaugural event was held in 1979. The event is named after Queen Sirikit of Thailand. Teams consist of three players. The tournament is held over 4 days with 18 holes of stroke play on each day, the best two rounds counting for the team score. Up to 2019, the event was held over 3 rounds.

--IANS

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