JOH KEEPS LEAD THRU 36 HOLES
Tiffany Joh (-13) holds the overnight lead in back-to-back rounds for the first time in her LPGA career and sits three strokes clear of Ariya Jutanugarn and Amy Yang at the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open. She’ll have to fend off the top three players in the field who are all T7 or better heading into the weekend – World No. 3 Jutanugarn (T2, -10), World No. 2 Sung Hyun Park (T5, -8) and World No. 4 So Yeon Ryu (T7, -7).
NO STRANGERS TO SUCCESS
Of the eight players that are T7 or better (within six shots of the lead), only Tiffany Joh (1, -13) and Su Oh (T5, -8) are searching for their first career LPGA victory. The other six players have combined for 27 LPGA victories and six major championships – Ariya Jutanugarn leads those six players with nine LPGA wins.
TIME OFF PAYS OFF FOR JUTANUGARN, OH
Before heading to Scotland, Ariya Jutanugarn (T2, -10) spent two weeks at home in Bangkok, Thailand with family and friends simply taking time to relax. The 2016 Ricoh Women’s British Open winner, who claims to ‘not really like’ links golf, took only 30 minutes of practice the entire trip on the Friday before she flew across the pond and is surprised at her level of play so far this week.
“I'm a little surprised because I didn't play golf for like two weeks,” said Jutanugarn. “I didn't practice at all, and I don't really like windy or links course. So I feel like after two rounds 10-under is pretty good.”
Su Oh (T5, -8) took nearly three weeks off and returned home to Melbourne, Australia where she did ‘a lot of nothing,’ following a missed cut at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. The 22-year-old arrived on Sunday and battled jet lag early in the week but felt good the first two days of play.
Oh said, “It was really good to be back. I enjoyed it so much. And it's kind of like a mini off season, I think. I was really debating whether to go home or not because I've never done it before, but I think it was the right call.”
RYU BENEFITS FROM THE OPEN
The proximity of The Open Championship on the men’s side to the Ladies Scottish Open worked much to the benefit of So Yeon Ryu this week. Ryu’s coach Cameron McCormick, who instructs Jordan Speith among others, came from Carnoustie to Gullane for a couple of days to help Ryu prepare for links style golf.
“Definitely having him on the golf course, especially like this type of golf course, learning a lot of like imagination,” Ryu explained. “Like sometimes I only could think the flop shot kind of stuff and he gave me the direction. You could use this bounce or you could putt. So it was really helpful to have him those two days to prepare for this tournament.”
ROLEX RANKINGS NO. 1 SCENARIOS
Sung Hyun Park (T5, -8), Ariya Jutanugarn (T2, -10) or So Yeon Ryu (T7, -7) are projected to overtake Inbee Park and move to Rolex Rankings No. 1 with a win this week. No other players factor into this scenario.
S.H. Park also can overtake Inbee Park with a second-place finish, but no more than one other player can be tied with S.H. Park at second for her to move to No. 1.
Sung Hyun Park – 2nd place scenarios
- Jutanugarn – can be tied for 2nd with Sung Hyun or worse; must not win
- Ryu – can be tied for 2nd with Sung Hyun or worse; must not win
PLAYER NOTES
Rolex Rankings No. 177 Tiffany Joh (1, -10)
- Joh’s two-day total of 129 bests her previous career low 36-hole score by eight strokes (137, three times, most recently 2018 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship)
- Joh holds the overnight lead in back-to-back rounds for the first time in her LPGA career
- Joh had 28 putts on Friday after just 24 on Thursday; her total of 52 putts is the lowest in the field
- Joh’s opening round 9-under par 62 was the lowest score of her LPGA career
- In 2018, Joh has made 11 of 17 cuts (season-best T13 at the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open)
- Joh has three career top-10 finishes on the LPGA since her rookie season in 2011, including a career-best runner-up result at the 2011 Navistar LPGA Classic; she’s a two-time winner on the Epson Tour
- Joh had surgery in January of 2017 after doctors found melanoma on her scalp – she received a cancer-free diagnosis the next month
Rolex Rankings No. 3 Ariya Jutanugarn (T2, -10)
- Jutanugarn is a 9-time LPGA winner and one of two players with multiple wins on the 2018 season (Kingsmill Championship presented by GEICO, U.S. Women’s Open) alongside Sung Hyun Park (two)
- Jutanugarn is the current leader in the Rolex Player of the Year, Race to CME Globe and Rolex ANNIKA Major Award standings and ranks first on the 2018 Official Money List ($1,797,765)
- Jutanugarn ranked first on Tour in scoring average (69.522) and birdies (293) going into this week
- Jutanugarn and Brooke Henderson are the only players with wins in 2016, 2017 and 2018
- Jutanugarn won the 2016 Rolex Player of the Year, Vare Trophy and Race to the CME Globe after a Tour-leading five-win season; she was the first player from Thailand to win on the LPGA
Rolex Rankings No. 27 Amy Yang (T2, -10)
- Yang’s 36-hole total of 132 ties her career-low (2016 Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia)
- All three of Yang’s LPGA victories have come in Asia (two in Thailand, one in Korea); she has three additional wins on the LET (Sweden, Germany, Australia) and one additional win on the KLPGA (Korea)
- Yang has six top-15 finishes in 12 starts in 2018 and finished T3 and T11 in her last two starts
- Yang finished T4 at the 2016 Rio Olympics representing the Republic of Korea
- Yang shot a 27 on the back nine in the 2015 LPGA KEB-HanaBank Championship, becoming the first player in LPGA history to birdie every hole on a side and tying the lowest nine-hole score in relation to par in LPGA history
Rolex Rankings No. 36 Caroline Masson (4, -9)
- Masson has one LPGA win to her name (2016 Manulife LPGA Classic) and also has one win on the LET (2012 South African Women’s Open)
- Masson has five top-10 finishes in 2018, already the most in a single season in her LPGA career
- Masson’s 36-hole total of 133 tied her career-low (three times, most recently 2018 Meijer LPGA Classic)
OF NOTE
- A total of 80 players made it to the weekend as the cutline fell at 1-over par
- Defending champion Mi Hyang Lee (+2) missed the cut by one stroke
- Tiffany Joh is the only American player T15 or better thru two rounds
- Two of the seven Scottish players in the field made the cut – Kelsey MacDonald (E) and Kylie Henry (+1); Henry birdied three of her final four holes to make the cut on the number
- Cheyenne Woods shot a 5-under par 66 and birdied her 18th hole to make the cut on the number
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