Brilliant Gina Leads on Round 2

Local
amateur Gina Switala carded a brilliant second-round 66 to
tie for the lead at -7 under par with England’s Rebecca Hudson and Norwegian
Marianne Skarpnord, after the second round of the WPGA Masters at Parkview Golf
Course on Thursday.

18-year-old
Gina Switala from Pretoria
couldn’t have asked for a better start with a birdie on her
opening hole. She went on to drop a shot on the par three 3^rd
hole but came back immediately with two birdies on the 4^th and
8^th holes.

Switala
carded her only other bogey for the day on the 9^th hole where she
pushed her drive and could only chip out from there.

It was on
the back nine when Switala said she started to enjoy herself. Hitting the
greens on the 10^th , 11^th and 14th she carded three further
birdies. She went on to hole two great putts on the 16^th and 17^th
to save par, only to miss out on yet another birdie on the 18th which
would have put her in the lead.

Local hero
Ashleigh Simon, just one off the pace from the leaders, once again dazzled
spectators as she mirrored her first round performance with a run of five
consecutive birdies on the back nine from the 11^th hole through to the
15^th.

Simon carded
a 67, a round of -5 under par for the day, while first round
overnight leader South African Morgana Robbertze played impressively to card a one-under
par 71 for her second round.

Ranked 19^th
on the Ladies European Tour, Hudson’s
quality play started off from the 1st tee, birding the first hole rolling
in a six foot putt which set the pace for the six birdies to follow.

She had back
to back birdies on the 3^rd and 4^th holes, only to drop a
shot on the par three 5^th , where she drove into the
bunker and was not able to get up and down from there. The 7^th saw
Hudson hole a
10-foot putt, but it was on the 8^th were she saved par
holing an enormous 20-footer .

On the back
nine Hudson had
a run of birdies after hitting close approach shots on the 12^th,
13^th and 14^th holes. Her approach shot to the 16^th
green was within tapping distance for her final birdie of the day.

Skarpnord,
who represented Norway
in the 2007 Women’s World Cup of Golf, started her round on the 10^th
today. Unlike yesterday where she didn’t make any putts, today
they dropped. "My putting was so much better than yesterday", said a very
pleased Skarpnord.

With a
similar run to that of Hudson, Skarpnord made her first birdie on the 12^th
with a further two birdies on the 13^th and 14^th holes. She
carded a single bogey on the 16^th were she pushed her five wood to
the right hitting a tree.

Punching a
low five iron, she caught yet another tree on the left and was unable
to recover .With her approach shot on the 17^th, one metre
from the hole, she comfortably rolled the putt in for a birdie.

On
the next hole she once again rolled in a 7-metre birdie
putt , and carded a further two birdies on the 3^rd and 6^th
holes .

Uganda‘s opening round overnight leader
Nora Kagonyera carded a disappointing 76 to slip down seven shots off the pace,
and a tournament 144 before the final day’s play.

The final
round of the WPGA Masters gets underway at the Parkview Golf Club from 07h00 on
Friday, with the leaders off at 09h00. Entrance is free.