WOMEN'S WORLD AMATEUR TEAM CHAMPIONSHIP

EILIDH BRIGGS WITHDRAWS FROM 

SECOND ROUND IN JAPAN
 
Curtis Cup player Eilidh Briggs, after a first-round 80, did not play in today's second round of the women's world amateur team championship at Karuizawa, Japan.
The tournament website indicates that she has withdrawn but whether that is for the rest of the tournament or only from the second round is not known yet. We can take it that Eilidh is either ill or injured.
That means the scores of fellow Curtis Cup player Gemma Dryburgh and Scottish champion Gabrielle Macdonald both had to count today. 
Under the rules of the competition, only the best two individual scores count daily but if you only have a two-man team, then obviously both count.
Dryburgh has scored 75-76 and Macdonald 79-75 so far.
Scotland, on 305, are well down the list which is headed by Canada (274) but hosts Japan made a signficant move today to end the day only two shots off the lead.
Defending champions South Korea are lying third on 277.
The leading European countries are Sweden and Spain,l sharing fourth palc3e on 278, a shot ahead of Germany and three ahead of joint seventh place England (281).

SECOND-ROUND TOTALS
274 Canada (Brooke Mackenzie Henderson 66 69, Brittany Marchand 71 70, Augusta James 69, 76).
276 Japan
277 South Korea
278 Sweden, Spain
279 Germany
281 ENGLAND (B Law 71 65, H Davis 76 69, G Cowley 76 75), Mexico, India
282 Australia, Denmark, France, USA
286 South Africa, China, Philippines
288 Netherlands, Australia, Italy
289 Colombia, Finland
290 WALES (B Harries 79 70, C Williams 71 74, K Bradbury 75 77)
291 IRELAND (M Dunne 71 75, P Grant 70 75, M Doyle 80 76), Norway, Argentina.
292 New Zealand, Belgium
293 Puerto Rico
294 Slovenia, Taipei
295 Switzerland
296 Singapore, Iceland
297 Thailand, Hong Kong.
300 Guatemala
301 Brazil
302 Russia, Poland
304 Slovakia, Czech Republic
305 SCOTLAND (G Dryburgh 75 76, G Macdonald 79 75, E Briggs 80 withdrew).
306 Venezuela
312 Turkey
321 Portugal
327 Bolivia
332 Guam
345 Serbia
381 Ukraine, Gabon


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 CANADA LEAD BY 2 FROM JAPAN
FROM THE CHAMPIONSHIP WEBSITE
Canada posted a 14-under-par 274 for a two-stroke lead over surging Japan after two rounds of the 2014 Women’s World Amateur Team Championship (WWATC) at Karuizawa 72 Golf East.
Fueled by a 69 from Brooke Mackenzie Henderson and a 70 from Brittany Marchand, Canada registered a second-round total of 5-under-par 139 at the par-72 Iriyama Course. Their 36-hole total is tied for the second-lowest in WWATC history.
“Today, we started a little slow,” said Canadian captain Liz Hoffman. “It wasn’t our best day on the front nine but we gained momentum through the round. What I saw in all the players was tremendous determination. They ground it out and stayed focused.”
Mirami Katsu, of Japan, which was 16th after the first round, shot a 7-under-par 65, to catapult the home nation into second place. Her teammate Eri Okayama shot a 5-under 67 for the day’s best team score of 12-under-par 132, which is the second-lowest team score for any round in championship annals.
Katsu’s 65 on the Oshitate Course was matched by England’s Bronte Law and is the lowest score at the 2014 championship so far
Two-time defending champion South Korea holds third place at 277, followed by Sweden and Spain tied for fourth at 278, Germany in sixth at 279, England, India and Mexico tied for seventh at 281 and Australia, Denmark, France and the USA tied for 10th at 282.
The 16-year-old Henderson, who is No.2 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking™ (WWAGR) and won the CN Canadian Women’s Professional Tour event in Quebec in 2012 at age 14, posted five birdies against two bogeys on the Iriyama Course.
“My game, in the middle of the round, was really good,” said Henderson, who the low amateur at the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open and runner-up at the U.S. Women’s Amateur. 
“It was great to get that birdie on 18 to get into the 60s. Any day in the 60s is a good day.”
In her round of 65, Katsu tallied an eagle, six birdies and a bogey. A 16-year-old- student at Kagoshima High School, she became the youngest winner in the history of the LPGA of Japan Tour in April when she captured the KKT Cup Vantelin Ladies Open at age 15. She is No. 25 in the WWAGR™.
“I was only 1-under on the front nine,” said Katsu, who was a quarter-finalist at the 2014 Japan Women’s Amateur. “But, I never gave up making any scores. I was happy to continue keeping up with my motivation until the 18th hole. I’m hoping I will not miss a beat for the next two days. I’ll do my best to focus.”
Japanese captain Tomoko Sakamoto did her best to keep the pressure off her team after the first round by not holding a team meeting in the evening.
“In WWATC history, our best rank for the Japan team was fourth place three times,” she said. “We missed a chance to receive a prize. Our goal is to win a prize and hoist a national flag with Japanese pride like as a rising sun flag. I hope to keep the team relaxed. I told them to fight for yourself and believe.”
South Korea’s So-Young Lee, 17, who won the gold medal at the recent Youth Olympic Games in China, shot a 69 and teammate Hey-Jin Choi logged a 71. After winning in 2010 and 2012, South Korea is attempting to become the first team to win three consecutive Espirito Santo Trophy competitions since the USA in 1980, 1982 and 1984.
In each round, the total of the two lowest scores from each team constitutes the team score for the round. The four-day (72-hole) total is the team’s score for the championship.
Fog delayed the start of the second round by one hour.