In her second round at the ISPS Handa Scottish Open at Dundonald Links with conditions proving a challenge, the Olympic champion shot a three-under 69 to sit tied for third, six-under for the tournament and just two shots back of leaders Australia’s Minjee Lee and Megan Khang of the United States.
Ko raced out to two-under for the day after three holes before scoring her solitary bogey of the day on the par-four 7th hole and made the turn at four under.
The world No 12 then scored 34 on the back nine while remaining bogey-free and scoring back-to-back birdies on the 13th and 14th.
On a day where the next-lowest scores were four-under 68s carded by England’s Charley Hull and Khang, the conditions called for cool heads and Ko responded with all of the experience earned over her career.
After her round, Ko said she felt as though she was adjusting to the winds after building on her first round’s effort in similar gusts.
“I thought I played really solid out there. My ball-striking was good, which helps in conditions like this. I think I played the wind a lot better today than I had early in my round yesterday.
“So I feel like I’m slowly getting adjusted to the wind because I kind of have to. I saw the forecast for the next couple days and it’s just as windy as today.
“A lot of creativity is required when the wind is this much because I have to hit a 3-wood from 175 [yards] which is normally a 5-iron distance. I think it’s kind of out of the ordinary situations, but you just have to adjust to the situations really quick.”
Lydia Ko braved testing conditions again in the second round of the ISPS Handa Scottish Open. Photo / Getty Images
Links golf combined with high winds require patience and control off the tee, while maintaining a balance between waiting for opportunities and choosing your moment to be aggressive.
Ko said she was pleased to continue her sound striking off the tee from Paris, which allowed her to attack greens with more safety.
“I hit my tee shots really solid and obviously that’s key, having a little bit more control on the fairway going into the greens.
“But all in all, I think the ball-striking was solid, and when I did hit it a little further away, I just tried to stay patient and I think that’s what you’ve got to do because when it’s tricky, you know that you’re going to potentially make mistakes.
“You just have to move on and focus on the next one.”
Heading into the weekend, Ko said she didn’t want to focus on anything other than her own game and trusting her plan.
“I’m just still focusing on the course management that I had set earlier this week. I think that’s probably the biggest thing I did well in Paris was just sticking to my routine, sticking to the way that I was kind of going anyway around the golf course.
“Sometimes I think you can get looped into seeing other people play the hole a certain way, and you think maybe you should do that. I [avoided] that really well in Paris, and that was one of the biggest things I was proud of, and that’s what I’m trying to stick to over the weekend as well as I did these past two days.”
Will Toogood is an online sports editor for the NZ Herald. He has previously worked for Newstalk ZB’s digital team and at Waiheke’s Gulf News, covering sport and events.
