Cristie Kerr Leads the Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies Scottish Open at the Midway Stage

Cristie Kerr fought back from a poor start to her second round at the Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies Scottish Open to lead after 36 holes at five-under-par.

Kerr battled the strong winds to shoot a one-over par 73 and leapfrog Karrie Webb to sit atop the leaderboard. A double bogey at the par-5 third hole, as well as bogeys on six and 11 saw Kerr quickly falling down the leaderboard midway through her round

However, the experienced American went on to make back-to-back birdies on 13 and 14, as well as a birdie at 17 to finish the day at five-under. “It was tough,” Kerr said. “I hit it so well yesterday, and I mean, that shows you the difference. 

“I didn't hit it that great today but I still managed. My caddie and I managed the golf course well, and we made the recovery shots when we needed to. So (I’m) just going to go hit a few balls and try to find the feel. It's hard when you play back-to-back in heavy wind with the swing, but we'll work on it.”

Karrie Webb, who led after round one, couldn’t recreate her impressive seven-under par, 65, today as she posted a three-over par, 75, to drop back to four-under for the tournament. The Australian had to combat the challenging early morning conditions, and did so fairly well until her final two holes, where she made bogey.

“(I’m) disappointed with that but obviously if you'd have told me before I teed off yesterday, that I would be four-under, probably would have taken it,” said Webb. “Hopefully the wind will stay up this afternoon and I won't be too far behind starting tomorrow.

“(It’s) disappointing, because I bogeyed the last two. I fought really hard to be one-over with two to go. Just a couple of bad swings and a couple of bad tee shots, really, that made it difficult to hit the greens.”

Sei Young Kim is two-shots back of Kerr after a respectable round of Even par, despite having a double bogey and two additional bogeys on her scorecard. The Korean got to six-under-par for the tournament thanks to three birdies on 14, 17 and one, but fell back to finish the day three-back.

“Today, when we got here, early morning, it was really cold temperature,” said Kim. “So I'm wearing three or four jackets. But yeah, it was a tough day and a strong wind on the course. I was going to a really good score on the front nine. I was 6-under. it was tough to judge distance. Trying to get the right distance, that was a tough part of today.

Fellow Korean Sun Young Yoo also finds herself at three-under par for the tournament. A birdie on 12, her third hole, followed by three in a row to make the turn, saw Yoo tied for the lead. Bogeys at the second and sixth holes briefly caused some concern, however, Yoo went on to birdie her penultimate hole to finish three-back of Kerr.

Pornanong Phatlum sits a shot further back at two-under par. Phatlum made three birdies and four bogeys to shoot 73. The only other player under par is Iceland’s Olafia Kristinsdottir at one-under par, after a round of 70.

The cut after two rounds at the Aberdeen Asset Management Ladies Scottish Open was +5, with a number of notable names missing out including European Solheim Cup hopefuls Jodi Ewart Shadoff and Caroline Hedwall, and world No. 4 Lydia Ko. 

For the latter, a seven-over par, 79, sees Ko miss her second cut of the season and only her third since 2014, her rookie season on the LPGA Tour. Five bogeys in her first seven holes on the back nine – arguably the easier nine – got Ko off to a poor start. This was followed by a double bogey on one and a bogey on two. Her birdie on the 8^th hole came too late as Ko ended up four shots from the cut line.