Great Dane Emily Pedersen digs in at the top 

of Hero Indian Open

                  Emily Pedersen in action today at Hero Women's Indian Open   

NEWS RELEASE

From Bethan Cutler, LET Media Manager

GURGAON (India): Denmark’s Emily Pedersen fired a second round of one over par 73 on the challenging Black Knight Course at DLF Golf and Country Club on Saturday to keep her lead at the Hero Women’s Indian Open.

Playing in hot conditions, the 19-year-old Ladies European Tour rookie professional, who was British women's open amateur champion in 2014. set the target at one under par in the morning.

Her nearest rival, Becky Morgan from Wales, then shot 71 to lie just one behind heading into the final round, with Denmark’s Malene Jorgensen third on one over.

Pedersen is playing in India for the first time and has mastered her precision shots into the challenging greens. 

She had one birdie in her second round, on the par-5 fourth, where she made a five metre putt, but there were six other chances from inside three metres on the first, seventh, ninth, 11^th, 13^th and 18^th holes.

“It could have been better but I’m happy with my score. My game was much better than yesterday. I just didn’t hole the putts,” said Pedersen, who narrowly missed out on a play-off victory at last month’s Lacoste Ladies Open de France.

“My approach was just the same: keep to the same game plan as yesterday. I hit a lot of good shots, 12 fairways and 14 greens. I didn’t hole a lot of putts.

"All pins are tough on those greens but I think the LET staff and the tournament direction is good at putting pins in the best positions.”

Pedersen suggested that her caddie, Mikey Curry, might be a good luck charm, although this is their third tournament working together. “It’s funny that his name is Curry when we’re in India!” she added. 

Both are in India for the first time and enjoying the local culinary delights. “I like the food, it’s much better than I expected,” continued Pedersen.

With 15 years on Tour, Morgan is a consistent performer but also yet to clinch her first win. Her accurate wedge play is an advantage on the challenging course and she had four birdies and three bogeys in her second round.

Jorgensen, who has been dining with Pedersen all week, is also targeting her first victory and she was tied for the lead with two holes to play until she hit her second shot into the water on the eighth, resulting in a double bogey.

She said: “I played very well today and my putter was hot so I’m happy with my round. I hit the ball close and my putter was good. That was the secret.”

Finland’s Ursula Wikstrom was also tied for the lead early in the round but came unstruck with a double bogey on the difficult par-4 17^th.

She said: “I was on the left side of the green and took four more to get down. It’s a tough hole. 17 is the hole where you hope you can get out with a reasonable score. You could have a birdie chance, but it’s hard to make it. I think it’s one of the holes that you try to survive somehow.”

Wikstrom is tied for fourth with Finland’s Minea Blomqvist, England’s Liz Young, Thailand’s Nontaya Srisawang and Cheyenne Woods of the United States, who had an impressive three under par 69.

Woods said: “Today I kept the ball in play. Yesterday I had a few errant drives that got me into trouble. I also was able to hit 17 greens today so I had a lot more chances for birdie and had four in total, which definitely helped.

" It’s tough to make birdies out here because the greens are tough, so I played well and I’m happy.”

Italian Giulia Sergas, who was tied for the lead on one under par after 17 holes, said she was “about to chew someone’s head off” after she took a triple bogey eight on the par-5 18^th. She is tied for ninth with Thailand’s Saraporn Chamchoi on three over par and said: “It was just the wrong club, wrong decision with the first shot and second shot. I’m now plus three, so you never know. If it happened to me it could happen to anybody.”

There was joy and despair for Thai professional Muangkhumsakul Kanphanitnan who aced the fifth, as unfortunately it was not the designated hole where an Omega watch is available.
SECOND-ROUND SCOREBOARD
par 144 (2x72)
1 Emily Kristine Pedersen (DEN) 70 73 1432 Becky Morgan (WAL) 73 71 1443 Malene Jorgensen (DEN) 73 72 145T4 Cheyenne Woods (USA) 77 69 146T4 Liz Young (ENG)  73 73 146T4 Nontaya Srisawang (THA)  73 73 146T4 Ursula Wikstrom (FIN) 73 73 146T4 Minea Blomqvist (FIN) 72 74 1469 Saraporn Chamchoi (THA) 3 71 76 147Giulia Sergas (ITA) 3 71 76 14711 Punpaka Phuntumabamrung (THA) 4 78 70 148Tanaporn Kongkiatkrai (THA) 4 77 71 148Aditi Ashok (Am) (IND) 4 75 73 148Kanphanitnan Muangkhumsakul (THA) 4 75 73 148Nanna Koerstz Madsen (DEN) 4 73 75 148Sophia Popov (GER) 4 72 76 14817 Patcharajutar Kongkraphan (THA) 5 82 67 149Tonje Daffinrud (NOR) 5 77 72 149Dewi Claire Schreefel (NED) 5 76 73 149Klara Spilkova (CZE) 5 74 75 14921 Camilla Lennarth (SWE) 6 77 73 15022 Georgia Hall (ENG) 7 79 72 151Wanchana Poruangrong (THA) 7 78 73 151Kelsey Macdonald (SCO) 7 76 75 151Florentyna Parker (ENG) 7 76 75 151Katie Burnett (USA) 7 73 78 151T27 Stefania Croce (ITA) 81 71 152T27 Vani Kapoor (IND) 79 73 152T27 Vikki Laing (SCO)  78 74 152T27 Sarah Kemp (AUS) 76 76 152T27 Laura Murray (SCO) 8 76 76 152T27 Alexandra Vilatte (FRA) 8 76 76 152T27 Cathryn Bristow (NZL) 8 75 77 152T27 Christine Wolf (AUT) 8 75 77 152T27 Pamela Pretswell (SCO) 8 74 78 152T27 Hyeon Seo Kang (SKOR) 8 74 78 152T27 Holly Aitchison (ENG) 8 74 78 152T38 Valentine Derrey (FRA) 9 80 73 153T38 Trish Johnson (ENG) 9 79 74 153T38 Monique Smit (RSA) 9 78 75 153T38 Eleanor Givens (ENG) 9 78 75 153T38 Melissa Reid (ENG) 9 76 77 153T38 Gwladys Nocera (FRA) 9 75 78 15344 Ann-Kathrin Lindner (GER) 10 80 74 154Leigh Whittaker (GER) 10 79 75 154Saaniya Sharma (IND) 10 79 75 154Thi Nhung Tang (VNM) 10 78 76 154Nattagate Nimitpongkul (THA) 10 77 77 154Marta Sanz Barrio (ESP) 10 77 77 154Noora Tamminen (FIN) 10 76 78 154Sophie Sandolo (ITA) 10 75 79 15452 Maha Haddioui (MAR) 11 81 74 155Diana Luna (ITA) 11 79 76 155Miriam Nagl (BRA) 11 78 77 155Caroline Afonso (FRA) 11 77 78 155Ye Seul Lee (SKOR) 11 74 81 15557 Rebecca Hudson (ENG) 12 79 77 156Pennapa Pulsawath (THA) 12 79 77 156Nanthikarn Rakasachat (THA) 12 78 78 15
Bree Arthur (AUS) 12 77 79 156Smriti Mehra (IND) 12 77 79 156Margherita Rigon (ITA) 12 75 81 156Chloe Leurquin (BEL) 12 75 81 156 
= MISSED THE CUTSenno Yasufuku (JPN) 13 82 75 157Stacey Keating (AUS) 13 82 75 157Carly Booth (SCO) 13 81 76 157Wannasiri Sirisampant (THA) 13 80 77 157Ye-Nah Hwang (SKOR) 13 78 79 157Sophie Walker (ENG) 13 77 80 157Amandeep Drall (IND) 13 77 80 157Victoria Lovelady (BRA) 13 76 81 157 
 Fabienne In-Albon (SWI) 14 82 76 158Paula Hurtado (COL) 14 82 76 158Titiya Plucksataporn (THA) 14 80 78 158Dolnapa Phudthipinij (THA) 14 80 78 158Janya Morrakotphan (THA) 14 79 79 158Whitney Hillier (AUS) 14 79 79 158Hannah Burke (ENG) 14 74 84 158Isabelle Boineau (FRA) 15 84 75 159Narisara Kerdrit (THA) 15 82 77 159Vaishavi Sinha (IND) 15 81 78 159Prathamaporn Ariyamatepreecha (THA) 15 81 78 159Tanya Wadhwa (IND) 15 79 80 159Sharmila Nicollet (IND) 15 78 81 159Ainil Bakar (MYS) 16 80 80 160Laura Jansone (LVA) 16 80 80 160Goonlacha Paiboonpong (THA) 16 78 82 160Neha Tripathi (IND) 17 82 79 161Ridhima Dilawari (Am) (IND) 17 81 80 161Kiran Matharu (ENG) 17 80 81 161Bomi Suh (KOR) 17 79 82 161Melanie Maetzler (SWI) 18 80 82 162Nicole Garcia (RSA) 18 79 83 162Gursimar Badwal (IND) 18 78 84 162Tiranan Yoopan (THA) 19 83 80 163Georgina Simpson (ENG) 19 83 80 163 Tvesa Malik (Am) (IND) 20 81 83 164 Ankita Tiwana (IND) 21 85 80 165Pimpadsorn Sangkagaro (THA) 23 85 82 167Nichakorn Rakasachat (THA) 23 83 84 167Seher Atwal (Am) (IND) 23 82 85 167 Stephanie Na (AUS) 30 86 88 174 Mehar Atwal (IND) 31 84 91 175Yanjiao Jiang (CHN) 32 87 89 176