Matthew and Sergas lead in Lytham

From the LGU website www.lgu.org

Scotland’s Catriona Matthew carded two consecutive eagles on her way to storming to the top of the leader board after the second round of the Ricoh Women’s British Open at Royal Lytham & St Annes.

The 39 year-old from North Berwick, who recently gave birth to her second daughter, Sophie, and who had a narrow escape for a hotel fire at last week’s Evian Masters in France, carded a three on the 487-yard par-5 11th and then produced a hole-in-one on the 160-yard par-3 15th on her way to returning a five under par 67 that left her on three under par 141 and tied for the lead with Italy’s Giuilia Sergas.

Matthew and Sergas go into the third round one shot ahead of Japan’s Yuko Mitsuka, who posted her second success one under par round of 71 for a two under par 36-hole aggregate of 142.
Korea’s Song-Hee Kim was one shot further back in fourth place after a 73 while American Solheim Cup star, Christina Kim shared fifth place with Yani Tseng, and Kyeong Bae on level par 144.

“It has been quite a couple of weeks,” said joint leader Matthew, who won the Centenary British Ladies Amateur Championship at Lytham but has subsequently missed the cut on the last three occasions the Ricoh Women’s British Open has been held on the Lancashire course in 1998, 2003 and 2006.

“Last week was very scary. It was about 10.30 the fire started. I was in bed and my husband (and caddie Graeme) was on the balcony on the computer. I thought it was raining... but it (the noise) just got louder and louder and when we opened the door all we could see was flames and smoke.

“We were kind of thankful we were on our own,” she added. “If we had all been there we would have been asleep: we would have been exhausted. Yeah, it was very fortunate it was just the two of us.”
Matthew put that frightening episode behind her to finish 30th at the Evian Masters and at Lytham she seemed no more likely to be troubling the leaders after she had played her first 27 holes in four over par. However, the eagles on the 11th and 12th set the scene for a notable fightback and further birdies at the 13th, 15th, 16th 17th and 18th, coupled with a bogey on the 17th, saw her race home in seven under 30 and set a new record for the lowest back nine in any Championship staged over the Royal Lytham & St Annes course.

Sergas’ second round 67 was much less dramatic but notable for the fact that it was the first of the week to feature nothing worse than a par.
The Italian, who is based in California and plays full time on the LPGA Tour, opened her second round with ten consecutive par figures before a birdie four at the par-5 11th saw her get back to one over par for the Championship. She proceeded to fire four further consecutive birdies from the 13th before closing out her round with regulation pars on the 17th and 18th holes.

My round was great,” said Sergas. “I played good from No. 1 on. My driver was straight. My irons were in the middle. I think I did pretty good. It can always be better but I’m happy.”
That sentiment was not shared by 1990 Ricoh Women’s British Open champion, Helen Alfredsson from Sweden, who missed the cut on ten over par after rounds of 78 and 76. Norway’s Suzann Pettersen (76-78) and America’s Juli Inkster (76-78) and Natalie Gulbis (79-75) also went out on that number but England’s Laura Davies, the 1986 champion, survived, albeit with nothing to spare.

Another notable casualty was 2004 champion, England’s Karen Stupples, who posted a five over par 77 to go out on 15 over par 159 and it was also a bleak day for the six amateur competitors all of whom missed the cut and lost the chance to succeed Anna Nordqvist as the winner of the Smyth Salver awarded to the leading amateur who survives all four rounds.

To end on a high note, joint leader Catriona Matthew’s ace on the 12th triggered a pledge from sponsor, Ricoh, to plant 1000 trees in Africa.
As part of the Ricoh GIFT programme (Green Initiatives For Tomorrow) the sponsor pledged to plant one tree for every birdie, five trees for every eagle and one thousand trees for every albatross and hole-in-one.
With her hole-in-one, one eagle and five birdies during the second round, Matthew ensured 1010 trees will be planted. Last year, the players generated over 1800 trees. To date, the total for this year stands at over 1600.

Complete scoreboard can be found on the LGU website www.lgu.org

Vicki Laing just made the cut on +9 (73, 80), Janice Moodie just missed out on +10 (77, 77)