Ariya Jutanugarn wins in Canada for 5th LPGA Tour title

World number one Lydia Ko, seeking her fourth Canadian Women’s Open, is four shots behind at eight-under-par after shooting a three-under 69 in the second round.

British Open champion Ariya limped out of the Rio de Janeiro Olympics last week after a knee injury derailed her bid for a medal after she had taken a first-round lead.

Saturday at the Canadian Pacific Women’s Open, Jutanugarn maintained her 36-hole lead despite a charge from playing partner In Gee Chun, who hung with her throughout the round.

That pulled her into a five-way tie for fifth place with Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist along with Ha Na Jang, Amy Yang and Chella Choi, all from South Korea. “I’m hitting it well, driving it well, keeping it in the fairway, which is important here, rolling it well. I really want to play my game and be happy on the course”.

Top-ranked Lydia Ko, of New Zealand, finished at 70 and is seven shots back in a tie for 10th with Lee Min-Jee (67) of Australia, Gabby Lopez (68), of Mexico, Suzann Pettersen (69), of Norway, Budsabakorn Sukapan (69), of Thailand, and Kim Hyo-Joo (70), of South Korea. “Hopefully I’ll get a little bit deeper under par tomorrow and see what happens”.

“Obviously I would love to win this tournament again, but if you scale it up, I think there is more pressure and expectation because you have won this tournament, three times in my case”, Ko said upon completing her round. Thats really helped me the last two days.”. “Right now I feel like I’m playing solid, so it’s a good position going into the weekend”.

Despite carding her best round of the week thus far, Sharp sees room for improvement in her play.

Englishman Tom Lewis, joint first-round leader with Lagergren and Pieters after opening with a course record 62, carded a 72 to finish the second round at eight-under, level with Spaniard Adrian Otaegui (66).

The final round will likely be a two-woman race with Northern Ireland’s Stephanie Meadow and South Korean Kim Sei Young five strokes off the lead in a tie for third.

Lee, Sharp, Leblanc and Brooke Henderson – who sits at four under par after a second-round 68 that included a double-bogey on her penultimate hole – have their work cut out for them considering the aforementioned duo on top.