Malaysia - 2nd Round

Jee Young Lee and Maria Hjorth are tied for the lead going into the final round of the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia.  Song-Hee Kim is in third place at -5, one shot behind while Mika Miyazato, Juli Inkster and Natalie Gulbis are tied for fourth at -4.

Hjorth, who came into the event having missed her last four cuts, posted her second straight 68.  Twice on Saturday Maria was at -8 - out in 31 despite a 9^th hole bogey - but three straight bogeys at 11-13 derailed her momentarily.  A birdie at 16 left Hjorth at -6.  Jelly was -7 at the turn but a bogey at 12 with eight pars on the back left her in the tie.  Kim moved into third thanks to four birdies in a seven-hole stretch.  First-round co-leader Miyazato was at -7 after birdies at 11 and 12 but three bogeys in four holes set her back to T4.  Inkster was +1 through four holes but took five birdies from there.  Gulbis - looking for her first Top 10 of the year - was -5 until she took her first bogey of the day at 18.

A 54-hole event often has a crammed leaderboard going into Sunday and this week is no exception.  16 players are within four of the lead and 28 (nearly half the field) are within my usual six-shot standard for being considered to have a chance.  That window includes a lot of fine players like Jiyai Shin (-3), Amy Yang, Seon Hwa Lee, Sun Young Yoo (-2), Stacy Lewis (-1), Hee Young Park and Michelle Wie (E).  There were twelve rounds in the 60s today but only two were better than 68.  If one of those players at -1 or even par surpass Yoo's Saturday 65 in the final round, they should have a really good chance.