Three times previously Ha Na Jang has owned at least a share of the lead after 36 holes in her rookie season. Three times she’s finished as the runner-up. But with the lead firmly in her grasp after a second-round 6-under-par 65 at the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia Friday, Jang’s hoping this won’t be her fourth runner-up but instead her first LPGA Tour win.
Her confidence is beaming not only from her play on the course this week but also from a win two weeks prior at a KLPGA tournament, and this could be the week she breaks through. It certainly looked that way on the back nine Sunday when she poured in birdies on four of her last seven holes to storm into the lead.
“I think today’s really good round because no bogey today,” Jang said. “Just six birdies straight, so I think it’s two weeks since I won Korea tournament, so it’s a little bit more confident. No pressure today. It’s like a little more simple. It’s a really good round today.”
But Jang has a prestigious pack of challengers behind her. At 10-under-par, she currently leads by one shot over Xi Yu Lin but world No. 1 Inbee Park (66), former world No. 1 Yani Tseng (68), and rookie Alison Lee (69) all trail by just two shots at 8-under-par for the tournament. If Inbee Park’s correct, it’s going to come down to a putting contest on the weekend.
“Yesterday was a really bad putting day but today was much better,” Park said. “Putting is really key to success on every golf course, and especially this golf course. A lot of short irons and when you have a lot of opportunities you got to make those birdie putts.”
Alison Lee was the overnight leader and led for much of the day Friday until she made bogeys on 15 and 16 coming in. Shanshan Feng, the defending champion here, was just one shot back of the lead entering the 18th but dumped her approach in the water and made double bogey at the last. World No. 2 Lydia Ko posted a 6-under-par 65 to crawl into contention at 6-under-par for the tournament, just four shots back of Jang.
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