Catriona Matthew and Giulia Sergas each posted rounds of 67 to take the lead at the Women's British Open.  Yuko Mitsuka is in third place at -2 one shot behind, Song-Hee Kim is fourth at -1 while Yani Tseng, Christina Kim and Kyeong Bae are tied for fifth at even par.

Matthew went out in 37 and was +4 for the tournament through 10 holes.  She eagled the par-5 11^th.  She aced the par-3 12^th.  She birdied the par-4 13^th.  That's -5 in three holes, folks.  After a measly par at 14, Catriona birdied 15 and 16, bogeyed 17 and birdied 18 to come home in -7 30 - an absolutely incredible nine-hole score for this week.  Sergas was steady as a rock with all pars on the front nine.  At 11 she started a stretch of five birdies in six holes (four in a row from 13 to 16) to move from +2 to -3.  Her back-nine 32 would have been sensational if not for Matthew's performance.  Mitsuka was the only player to go under par for the second straight day - another 71, unfortunately marred by a double-bogey at the par-5 6^th.  Kim was tied for the lead going to 17 (four back-nine birdies had more than offset a 38 on the front) but dropped shots at each of the last two holes.

First-round leader Sandra Gal shot 80 (41 on the front) and fell to +5 T25.  Angela Stanford's triple-bogey at the par-4 3^rd hole led to a 76 - she stands at +2 T10.  Hee Young Park was rolling along at -1 and tied for fourth until she bogeyed three of the last four, dropping to +2 TT10.  Big movers-up included Tseng (70 E T5), Christina Kim, Kyeong Bae (both 71 E T5), Sophie Gustafson (71 +1 T8) and LET regular Marianne Skarpnord (69 +1 T8).  71 was a good number to make up ground with and several more players did just that - Ai Miyazato (+2 T10), Se Ri Pak, Cristie Kerr (both +3 T14), Karrie Webb and Jiyai Shin (both +4 T17) all used that number to advance.

The WBO cuts the field after the Top 65 and ties, and this year's number was (I believe) a record +9.  A lot of outstanding players are going home early - Suzann Pettersen, Lindsey Wright, Seon Hwa Lee, Helen Alfredsson, Ji Young Oh, Jee Young Lee, Juli Inkster, Natalie Gulbis, Candie Kung, Nicole Castrale and Wendy Ward will not fondly reflect upon the last two days.  71 players will continue on, including Brittany Lang, In-Kyung Kim (each shot 70 to rebound from a Thursday 81), Na Yeon Choi (71 after an 80) and Lorena Ochoa (+8 made it with only one to spare).

I just noticed that I've mentioned everybody T10 or higher except for Jane Park.  She followed up yesterday's 74 with a fine 72 (three birdies, three bogeys).  Considering her recent back problems and poor results, this is a good sign that perhaps Jane has recovered and will return to the quality of play I got used to seeing from her last summer.  If you've followed her on Twitter, you'll know she's a brutally honest "shoot-from-the-hip" kind of person - one that makes it very hard for me not to root for.  Hopefully she can keep her back loose in the cool weather this weekend and stay in contention.