England’s Georgia Hall and Czech rookie Kristyna Napoleaova are tied at the top on six-under-par at the halfway point of the Aramco Saudi Ladies International presented by Public Investment Fund.
Hall, who shared the overnight lead alongside Sophie Witt, got off to a hot start with three consecutive birdies on holes 11 through to 13 and made the turn in 33 (-3).
As the wind started to pick up at the end of the morning, Hall made another birdie on the fourth but dropped a shot on the sixth to sign for a round of 69 and sit at six-under-par.
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“The pins were a little trickier actually than yesterday. I’m pretty pleased with the way I played,” said the two-time Solheim Cup winner. “I was kind of just plodding around and it was a much steadier round today. I’ll take that into the weekend.
Related: Wind a factor at Saudi Ladies, but not for Hall, Witt
“It gives me a lot of confidence going into the weekend. That’s what happens with golf, sometimes you get good draw and sometimes a bad draw – that’s what happens. You’ve got to accept it, which I did. I don’t mind playing in the wind, so we’ll just see what happens.”
Napoleaova faced the tougher afternoon conditions on day two but breezed through her round firing a bogey-free 66 (-6) – one of three players to do so – to be level with Hall.
After an eagle on the fourth, the former footballer rolled in birdies on seven, nine and 13 before finishing her day with a flourish on 18 to seal a career-best round.
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“It was a really good round. Even yesterday I felt like the course is running really well and the greens are pure. I feel this is exactly for me – apart from the wind,” said Napoleaova, who only began playing golf six years ago.
“I have a local caddie and we are from the same academy, so he walked me through it. It was really his help throughout; I was chilling out and not thinking about anything.
“I’m honoured to be in that group tomorrow. It’s going to be a lot of fun and I feel like I can learn a lot from these two, especially as they are incredible players. I’m enjoying every single minute of being here this week.”
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Five-time LET winner Anne Van Dam also produced an excellent afternoon round firing a 69 (-3) to move to third place on four-under-par.
“It was probably one of the best three-under-pars of my career. Not one shot was easy out there, overall, I’m very pleased,” said the Dutch star.
“I hit a lot of good shots and actually created some good chances and holed a few good par putts. It was a good grind.”
Australia’s Steph Kyriacou also fired a 66 (-6) to climb up to fourth in the leaderboard as she began the day on three-over, but kickstarted her round with an eagle on the 13th before dropping a shot on the following hole.
However, it was her back nine where the two-time LET winner made inroads as she rolled in five birdies to put herself on three-under-par for the tournament and in a good position heading into the weekend.
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“I hit good shots yesterday, but they would finish like 30 metres away from the pin,” said the 21-year-old, who finished third in last season’s Race to Costa del Sol.
“I hit good shots today and because there wasn’t much wind, I could actually hit them close and give myself chances.”
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