STACY LEWIS LEADS EVIAN MASTERS BY ONE AT HALFWAY STAGE

Stacy Lewis of the United States plays her approach shot to the fifth green during the second round of the Evian Masters. Credit: Tristan Jones/LET.

Evian-les-Bains, France: World No 3 Stacy Lewis of the United States shot a three-under-par 69 today to sit a shot ahead of the field heading into the weekend at the Evian Masters presented by Société Générale.

Lewis had an eagle, three birdies and two bogeys in her second round at the Evian Royal Resort, giving her a 12 under total of 132.

The 27-year-old from Texas started the day two clear of her nearest rival after firing a course record 63 on Thursday. She pulled further ahead with a birdie at the fourth and an eagle at the seventh at the Evian Royal Resort on Friday morning.
However, her momentum stalled with bogeys at the 12th and 14th
before she compensated with birdies at holes 15 and 18.
"Today was actually a little bit more of a struggle for me.I wasn't really sure how I would play coming off a good score yesterday,” said Lewis, who ended second in 2011 "It's hard when you make pars and you feel like you're going backwards because of all the birdies I made yesterday. It wasn't the best, but I made two birdies late and fought through it.”

The 2011 Kraft Nabisco champion is hoping to add a fourth LPGA Tour title to her resumé after two wins already this year on the tour. South Korean Ilhee Lee is a shot back on 11 under after rounds of 66 and 67 in her first appearance at the Evian Masters, having qualified after a career best tie for fourth place at the recent US Women’s Open.
"This event feels like bonus game, so it's just, I mean, take it easy and then just hang out playing,” said the 23-year-old from Seoul.

With an eight under 64, which was the best round of the day, her compatriot Inbee Park, the 2008 US Women’s Open champion, joined the 2005 Evian champion Paula Creamer from the United States in a share of third place at nine under, with Japan’s Mika Miyazato a shot further back in fifth.  

Beatriz Recari of Spain put herself in a strong position at the midway stage of the tournament after posting a six under 66 on another day of blazing sunshine at Evian Masters Golf Club.

At seven under par in total, the 25-year-old from Pamplona was in a three-way share of sixth place with amateur Hyo Joo Kim and fellow Korean Hee Young Park.

Having missed the cut on her first two visits to Evian, Recari prepared by playing shots from uneven lies and said: 

 “I think my game wasn’t right for this kind of course because you never have a flat lie, so that was definitely a challenge for me. Coming into this week we had two weeks off and I made sure that I practised a lot of uneven lies with the ball above my feet, below my feet, different kinds of awkward stance.

"I’ve worked really hard in the winter to get my game in general to the next level and I’m really happy with how I’m playing this season and think I’ve definitely given it a little extra and I’ve been playing very solid so I’m very happy and hope that I keep it up on the weekend.”

Scotland’s Carly Booth also survived the weekend, despite playing the second round with a knee injury.  She carded rounds of 72 and 73 to be one over par at midway.

Speaking after her second round, the 20-year-old Scot said that she suspected the injury could have been aggravated by playing in the annual Evian Masters charity celebrity football match the previous evening, in aid of the ELA.  

“I woke up this morning and I couldn’t put any weight on my left leg,” said Booth. “I still can’t straighten it properly and had the whole day with not being able to transfer my weight onto my left side, so I don’t know. I seem to have found a way on the range to take it to the round.

“I actually hit it pretty well today, to be honest. I missed a couple of putts but I mean, now I think I’m getting a bit more used to the greens so hopefully at the weekend I can improve there.

“Maybe it’s because of tightness beforehand and that’s maybe just inflamed it doing certain movements at football because I’ve not exactly played football often so that probably helped cause the reason why it’s hurting.”

Elsewhere, Cheyenne Woods, who is Tiger’s niece, shot rounds of 71 and 69 to end four under and make her first cut in a professional event, but World No1 Yani Tseng missed out on playing the weekend by one stroke after rounds of 76 and 71. The cut fell to 75 players at two over par.

With storms forecast for Saturday, the Evian Masters Sports Committee took the decision to bring forward the tee times for the third round, which will start at 7.30am from tees one and 10. The leaders will tee off in reverse order from the first and the lower ranked players from the 10^th.

SECOND-ROUND TOTALS
Par 144 (2x72)

132 - Stacy Lewis (USA) 63 69

133 - Il Hee Lee (KOR) 66 67

135 - Paula Creamer (USA) 68 67, Inbee Park (KOR) 71 64

136 - Mika Miyazato (JPN) 67 69

137 - Beatriz Recari (ESP) 71 66, Hee Young Park (KOR) 65 72, Hyo-Joo Kim (KOR) 69 68

138 - Azahara Munoz (ESP) 70 68, So Yeon Ryu (KOR) 73 65, Jiyai Shin (KOR) 69 69, Meena Lee (KOR) 69 69, Natalie Gulbis (USA) 69 69

139 - Karrie Webb (AUS) 70 69, Julieta Granada (PAR) 74 65, Se Ri Pak (KOR) 70 69, Anna Nordqvist (SWE) 72 67

140 - Hee-Kyung Seo (KOR) 71 69, Suzann Pettersen (NOR) 69 71, Amy Yang (KOR) 72 68, Shanshan Feng (CHN) 68 72, Cristie Kerr (USA) 71 69, Brittany Lang (USA) 71 69, Christina Kim (USA) 73 67, Lee-Anne Pace (ZAF) 69 71, Cheyenne Woods (USA) 71 69, Brittany Lincicome (USA) 73 67

141 - Katherine Hull (AUS) 71 70, Becky Morgan (WAL) 70 71, Hee-Won Han (KOR) 72 69, Mariajo Uribe (COL) 67 74, Maria Hjorth (SWE) 72 69, Lindsey Wright (AUS) 71 70, Sun Young Yoo (KOR) 73 68, Chella Choi (KOR) 73 68, Momoko Ueda (JPN) 69 72, Mirim Lee (KOR) 73 68, Ha-Neul Kim (KOR) 70 71, Ji-Na Yim (KOR) 72 69, Ai Miyazato (JPN) 71 70

142 - In Kyung Kim (KOR) 69 73, Karine Icher (FRA) 70 72, Jenny Shin (KOR) 73 69, Pornanong Phatlum (THA) 72 70, Ran Hong (KOR) 74 68, Carlota Ciganda (ESP) 73 69, Haeji Kang (KOR) 72 70

143 - Giulia Sergas (ITA) 71 72, Jennifer Johnson (USA) 73 70

144 - Linda Wessberg (SWE) 75 69, Jessica Korda (USA) 77 67

145 - Hye-Youn Kim (KOR) 73 72, Cindy Lacrosse (USA) 76 69, Michelle Wie (USA) 73 72, Jennifer Song (USA) 73 72, Miki Saiki (JPN) 76 69, Laura Davies (ENG) 73 72, Alison Walshe (USA) 76 69, Sandra Gal (DEU) 69 76, Carly Booth (SCO) 72 73, Na Yeon Choi (KOR) 75 70, Kaori Ohe (JPN) 74 71, Anais Maggetti (CHE) 76 69, Danielle Kang (USA) 75 70

146 - Gwladys Nocera (FRA) 71 75, Felicity Johnson (ENG) 73 73, Jodi Ewart (ENG) 70 76, Mina Harigae (USA) 75 71, Juli Inkster (USA) 71 75, Pernilla Lindberg (SWE) 74 72, Caroline Afonso (FRA) 73 73, Shin-Ae Ahn (KOR) 74 72, Catriona Matthew (SCO) 74 72, Amanda Blumenherst (USA) 73 73, Min-Young2 Lee (KOR) 74 72

MISSED THE CUT

147 - Eun Hee Ji (KOR) 75 72, Vicky Hurst (USA) 74 73, Yani Tseng (TPE) 76 71, Angela Stanford (USA) 76 71, Helen Alfredsson (SWE) 71 76, Katie Futcher (USA) 74 73, Gerina Piller (USA) 75 72, Kristy Mcpherson (USA) 74 73

148 - Mindy Kim (KOR) 76 72, Christel Boeljon (NLD) 75 73, Jeong-Eun5 Lee (KOR) 77 71, Jia Yun Li (CHN) 72 76

149 - Jimin Kang (KOR) 74 75, Morgan Pressel (USA) 76 73, Jade Schaeffer (FRA) 73 76, Karen Lunn (AUS) 71 78, You-Na Park (KOR) 74 75, Tiffany Joh (USA) 78 71, Lexi Thompson (USA) 74 75, Melissa Reid (ENG) 73 76, Wendy Doolan (AUS) 75 74

150 - Karen Stupples (ENG) 81 69, Candie Kung (TPE) 77 73, Caroline Masson (DEU) 76 74

151 - Amy Hung (TPE) 74 77, Trish Johnson (ENG) 77 74, Ryann O Toole (USA) 75 76

152 - Sophie Giquel-bettan (FRA) 77 75, Diana Luna (ITA) 76 76, Sophie Gustafson (SWE) 79 73, Xi Yu Lin (CHN) 74 78

154 - Anne-Lise Caudal (FRA) 80 74, Karin Sjodin (SWE) 77 77, Line Vedel (DNK) 74 80

155 - Sharmila Nicollet (IND) 74 81, Rye-Jung Lee (KOR) 78 77