Reid shares lead in Korea

Melissa Reid retained a share of the lead at the Korean Ladies Masters after the 23-year-old carded a second-round 69.

Starting the day in an eight-way tie at the top of the leaderboard, Reid took control with three birdies in her first four holes at Haevichi Country Club and was two shots clear at the turn after draining a 40-foot birdie putt on the ninth.

However, she three-putted for bogey on the 13th and was then reeled in by Yang.

“I played quite well on the front nine and hit a few shots pretty close. Then the back nine was a little bit slow so I lost a bit of momentum,” said Reid.

“I haven’t played great the last couple of weeks so I’m not really expecting anything but I did a great couple of days’ work coming into this event and I guess things have fallen into place. My swing wasn’t feeling right last week at all and I figured it out a bit too late.”

Yang, meanwhile, returned a five-under-par 67 built on a blistering start that saw the Korean pick up four birdies in her opening six holes.

Bogeys at the 10th and 12th sandwiched a birdie at the 11th before Yang collected two more birdies to share the lead going into the final round in Jeju.

“Today I hit pretty good putts and iron shots,” she said.

“Everything was good, especially the front nine which was very nice, but on the back nine I struggled. But somehow I coped, I am satisfied with the round.”

Three Koreans – Seo Kyung-hee, Jo Ran-Young and Moon Soo-young – are tied for third on three-under following rounds of 69, 70 and 71 respectively while eight players lie joint-sixth on two under par.