FORMAT: 72-hole stroke play
It was a very happy birthday for Olivia Lee as the Buckinghamshire player moved into a share of the lead at the England Girls Championship at Malton & Norton today.
The tight, tree-lined Yorkshire course once again proved a nut to crack with the event still waiting for its first sub-70 score.
There were four 70s (-2) today, one of them coming from the newly-turned 17-year-old, who rallied from two over after five to reach level par for the tournament. Alongside her at the top is 14-year-old Scottish talent Grace Crawford, who followed up her opening-day 70 with a two-over-par 74.
Olivia told England Golf: “I was really happy. I played steadily and stuck to my plan and hit as many greens as I could and a few more putts dropped. All good.”
Tucked in behind the leaders is another Scot – Rachel Foster (Prestwick St Nicholas). She holed a bunker shot to a cap a great run of scoring at the end of the front nine and played the back nine in level par to close with a 70 and leave herself one over par at the halfway stage.
“The round went really well today,” said Rachel.
“ I found myself in a lot of good positions off the tees and also managed to produce some good recovery shots to keep my score low.”
Also on one over is England Girls squad member Patience Rhodes (Burnham & Berrow). She recorded a level-par 72 today to move into joint third.
The top 40 and ties made it through to tomorrow’s third and fourth rounds with the cut coming on +11.