The World’s No. 1 player, Inbee Park, and 35-year-old American veteran Cristie Kerr grabbed a share of the lead early and will head into the weekend as the co-leaders at the CN Canadian Women’s Open being played at the Royal Mayfair Golf Club in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.
Kerr was in the same group as Park and they almost went into match play mode and both players bogey the 18th hole today. Park shot a five-under 65 and Kerr a four-under 66 and at the end of the day both were 8-under 132 in a day of golf under slightly overcast skies with gentle winds. Kerr, who won the Canadian Open in 2006, said it's a challenging course.
"It's a course where you have to really shape the ball off the tee and be creative," said Kerr. "I played very well the last couple of days. It's unfortunate I bogeyed the last hole today, but that's what happens when you hit an errant shot and have to chip out to a difficult pin."
For the 25-yeard-old Park, who has won six tournaments on the LPGA tour this year including three majors, its back to her familiar place atop a leaderboard. Earlier this month, the pressure was on when she had a chance at the Women's British Open to become the first golfer to win four majors in a tournament year.
She said the nerves got to her a bit on the Old Course at St. Andrews, and she ended up tied for 42nd. Park said the time off since then has helped her game in Edmonton.
"I worked on a couple of things after that because I wasn't hitting it my best at the British Open. I'm obviously hitting it a lot better this week and putting a lot better," she said. "On the greens, I was really comfortable because they're so pure wherever you hit it, it's just going to go right there."
Karine Icher of France logged a four-under 66 to finish tied with co-first round leader American Angela Stanford at one shot back heading into weekend play.
"Good putting made the difference today," said Icher, a 34-year-old seeking her first win on the tour. "The course is quite hard, [with] tricky fairways and big rough, so I'm looking to get some good drives and putts on the weekend."
Two shots back behind the leaders are American Paula Creamer, defending champ Lydia Ko and 49-year-old veteran Laura Davies.
Creamer seems to have her game back on track after her disappointing Solheim Cup performance. She started on the back nine today and was in contention at seven-under when she reached her 14th hole of the day, the Par-4 5th.
She double-bogeyed the hole dropping to five-under, which considering her birdie two holes after, made for the two-shot difference that keeps her from a co-share of the lead.
The 16-year-old New Zealander phenom Ko was the first round co-leader along with Stanford. She got in trouble early with bogeys on the third and fifth holes which set her back to four-under early on her round. She would have to play catch up the rest of the day, but the best news for her is that she is still in contention, two shots back at the half-way mark.
Davies, who was the LPGA’s most dominant player in the 1990’s, winner of 84 titles worldwide including 20 LPGA events, four of them majors, was the surprising contender at this point. One of those was the Canadian Women’s Open (no longer a major), which was then called the du Maurier Classic.
Davies won it in 1996 at the Edmonton Country Club, beating out Karrie Webb and Nancy Lopez. Davies was runner-up in 1999, the year the event was held at Priddis Greens near Calgary. She hasn’t won since 2001, but on Friday Davies birdied the third, fifth, sixth and seventh holes en route to a four-under 66 and is sitting in striking position lurking two shots behind the leaders.
The breakout star of the Solheim Cup, 17-year-old Charley Hull, got in contention Friday. She started on the back nine and parred the first 10 hole she played today. But after making the turn, she birdied the second, third and fourth holes and added the seventh later to close with a bogey-free four-under 66 to vault from 20th spot into a four-way T-8th with Americans Kathleen Ekey, Stacy Prammanasudh and South Korea's Hee Young Park, at three shots back.
"I played pretty solid. I wasn't hitting that good today on the front nine with my tee shots because I felt a little tired out there," said Hull. "The back nine I got something going, holed a few putts and I'm pretty pleased with that."
Solheim Cup heroine Caroline Hedwall followed up her opening round two-under 68 with another to place T-12th at four-under, four shots back. She is in a seven-way, high-profile tie with co-Solheim Cup participants: World’s No. 3 Suzanne Pettersen, Catriona Matthew, Jessica Korda, Lexi Thompson, Brittany Lincicome and Gerinna Piller.
Notables missing the two-over cut line were Beatriz Recari (three-over), Giulia Sergas and Karrie Webb (five-over), Michelle Wie (nine-over), Natalie Gulbis (10-over).
The World’s No. 2 player, Stacy Lewis, shot a four-over 74 on Thursday’s first round that saw her accumulate seven bogeys. Lewis said she was mentally tired and exhausted from the Solheim Cup loss, and withdrew prior to the start of the second round.
Jennifer Song also withdrew prior to the start of the second round while Wie cited illness as the reason for her poor play.