Gwladys Nocera third with one


round to go in NZ Open

FROM THE TOURNAMENT WEBSITE
Let the battle resume was the catch-cry today from the two in-form Australian professionals at the inaugural $150,000 New Zealand Women’s Open golf tournament at the Clearwater course in Christchurch.
Sarah Oh, from New South Wales, and Katherine Hull, from Queensland, went head-to-head in the final round of the New South Wales Open last Sunday with Oh’s superior touch on the greens taking her to a three-shot victory. Both have shown superb putting skills at Clearwater in the first two rounds of the New Zealand event and that, coupled with their consistency and accuracy from tee to green, has set up a replay of a week ago.
And to add to the familiarity theme, Gwladys Nocera, pictured above, the accomplished French woman who won the European Tour’s order of merit last year, will again join Oh and Hull in the final group tomorrow. Oh had a bogey-free five-under par 67 to finish the 36 holes on 135, nine-under par, with Hull three shots back on six-under 138 after bogeys at 17 and 18 resulted in her carding a one-over 73 and losing valuable ground.
A shot behind Hull is Nocera, who had four birdies in her 68 and no bogeys, and a further stroke back was young Korean professional Bobea Park, who had six birdies in her 67, the equal best round of the day, and Australian Sarah Kemp, who had four birdies along with an eagle at the par-5 fifth.
The leading New Zealander and tied for sixth on two-under par is outstanding 14-year-old Aucklander, Cecilia Cho, who backed an opening 69 with a one-over 73.
She was disappointed at dropping three shots in the last five holes including a double-bogey at the last. Although three shots behind Oh, Hull has several factors on her side. She is the 26th world-ranked player, has been a professional for seven years, and won more than $1 million alone on the United States LPGA Tour last year.
Oh, 20, whose world ranking improved more than 100 places to 339th after her New South Wales Open triumph, is in her third year as a professional and has yet to reach $A50,000 in earnings.
However, she won the Australian Ladies Professional Golf Tour’s Rookie of the Year award last year after finishing third on the order of merit and has shown remarkable self-belief for a relative greenhorn. Oh had five birdies today and has dropped just one shot in 36 holes.
ALL THE SECOND ROUND TOTALS
Par 144 (2 x 72)
Players from Australia unless stated
135 Sarah Oh 68 67.
137 Katherine Hull 65 73.
139 Gwladys Nocera (Fra) 71 68.
140 Bobea Park (SKo) 73 67, Sarah Kemp 73 67.
142 Cecilia Cho (NZ) (am) 69 73, Lee-Anne Pace (SAf) 70 72.
143 Nikki Garrett 72 71, Wendy Doolan 71 72.
144 Johanna Westerberg (Swe) 71 73, Martina Eberl (Ger) 71 73, Yeon Song Kim (SKo) 69 75.
145 Julie Tvede (Den) 73 72, Mollie Fankhauser (US) 70 75, Stacey Keating (am) 70 75.
146 Jade Schaeffer (Fra) 72 74, Lotta Wahlin (Swe) 72 74, Sarah Nicholson (NZ) 71 75, Sarah-Jane Smith 73 73, Trish Johnson (Eng0 74 71, Vicky Thomas 72 74, Zoe Brake (NZ) (am) 73 73.
147 Caroline Bon (NZ) (am) 73 74, Melanie Holmes-Smith 73 74, Nancy Harvey (Can) 70 77, Yuki Sakurai (Jap) 74 73.
148 Joanne Mills 74 74.
149 Becky Brewerton (Wal) 73 76, Dana Lacey 74 75, Lydia Hall (Wal) 73 76, Rica Tse (NZ) (am) 72 77, Sunny Park 72 77, Verity Knight 77 72.
150 Becky Morgan (Wal) 72 78, Beth Bader (US) 74 76, Clare Choi 74 76, Danielle Montgomery (Eng) 75 75, Melodie Bourdy (Fra) 72 78, Sarah King (am) 75 75.
151 Angela Tunchon 74 77, Cherie Byrnes 78 73, Dana Kim (NZ) (am) 75 76, Emma Cabrera-Bello (Spa) 80 71, Karen Lunn 69 82, Felicity Johnson (Eng) 77 74.
152 Anna Knutsson (Swe) 76 76, So Hee Kim (SKo) 76 76, Stacey Tate (NZ) 75 77.
153 Cathryn Bristow (NZ) (am) 77 76, Emily Perry (NZ) (am), Heiji Kim (SKo) 75 78, Kiran Matharu (Eng) 74 79, Laura Davies (Eng) 77 76, Whitney Hillier (am) 75 78.
154 Angela Harris 76 78, Anne-Lise Caudal (Fra) 71 83, Carmen Hajjar 81 73, Corinne Furnell 74 80, Kate Combes 76 78, Kristie Smith 78 76, Nhung Thi Tang (Vie) 78 76, Penny Smith (NZ) (am) 78 76.
155 Jane Kim 79 76, Jenny Park (SKo) 80 75, Jenny Sim (NZ) (am) 79 76, Katy Jarochowicz 76 79, Kerryn Starr (NZ) 75 80, Stephanie Na 73 82.
156 Aram Cho (SKo) 78 78, Diana D'Alessio (US) 76 80, Min Gyung Suk (SKo) 72 84, Tamara Hyett 76 80, Vikki Tutt 78 78.
MISSED THE CUT
157 Becky Walsh (NZ) 78 79, Bree Turnbull 77 80, Kirsty S Taylor (Eng) 75 82, Priscilla Duffield 81 76, Renee Fowler (NZ) 75 82.
158 Jane Lee (NZ) (am) 81 77, Larissa Eruera (NZ) 79 79, Susan Farron (NZ) 76 82, Tammy Clelland NZ) (am) 74 84.
159 Da Som Lee (NZ) 79 80, Nicole Montgomery 81 78, Polly Travica 79 80, Tania Tare (NZ) (am) 81 78, Wendy Hawkes (NZ) 78 81.
160 Elizabeth McKinnon (NZ) 79 81, Kasey Henshaw 79 81, Rosemary MacDonald 80 80.
161 Joon Young Choi (SKo) 82 79, Lisa Jean 8 80, Sharon O'Neill-Hemps 82 79.
162 Lynn Kenny (Sco) 83 79, Nicky Henderson 84 78, Rebecca Green 81 81, Marousa Polias 79 84.
163 Shelley Duncan (NZ) 81 82.
164 Chantelle Cassidy (NZ) (am) 79 85, Jody Fleming 81 83, Pam Sowden (NZ) 82 82.
166 Christina Beltran 79 86.
168 Angela Hawks (NZ) 70 89.
170 Emily Gray 86 84.
173 Caroline Malone (NZ) 173.