Danes Prosper as Marianne Fades

Julie Tvede, at the 2007 Northern Ireland Ladies Open, leads the 2008 Telkom Women’s Classic at the Zwartkop Country Club with compatriot Lisa Holm Sorenson. Picture: Tristan Jones / LET

Two Danish players are in the joint lead, Lisa Holm Sorenson and Julie Tvede, on -10 under par after the second round of the Telkom Women’s Classic played at Zwartkop Country Club today.

Sorensen stuck to her overnight game plan of starting out steady and then launching an attack. Starting off the 1st tee she parred the first two holes. Hitting a seven iron off the par three 3rd, she sank a six foot putt to claim her first birdie.

She continued her attack with a back-to-back birdie on the 4th hole. Teeing off with a three wood she hit her approach just short of the green with her 24-degree rescue club and then chipped it in for birdie.

Sorensen had a really good drive into the wind off the 6th tee and once again stuck an eight iron within a metre and holed her putt for birdie to go -3 under at the turn.

Her first bogey came on the par four 10th hole when she overshot the green with her approach shot and didn’t manage to get up and down. Sorensen made consecutive birdies on holes 13 and 14.

On sixteen she carded another bogey when her short game let her down. On the par five 18th she saw her tee shot end up in the fairway bunker. With a six iron she recovered back to the middle of the fairway, leaving herself a wedge into the green, which she proceeded to hit within three foot of the hole.

She stroked it straight into the middle of the hole for her final birdie of the day. "I don’t want to throw shots away tomorrow, and will be using a similar game plan: I will play steady until I feel comfortable, and then begin my attack" said a tired Sorensen.

Meanwhile Sorensen’s best friend and fellow Dane, Julie Tvede had a bogey free round. Teeing off the 10th this morning Tvede played steadily through the first four holes. She carded birdies on both the 14th and 18th holes to turn on -3 under par.

Playing solidly on the front nine, she made birdie on the par five 1st hole, and finished with back-to-back birdies on both the par fours 5th and 6th holes.

"Lisa and I made a joke last night that I should shoot -6 under and she would shoot -4 under for today so that we could play in the final round together – so it will be really nice tomorrow", mentioned a happy Tvede who carded a round of 66 today.

Overnight leader Norwegian Marianne Skarpnord parred her first nine holes this morning. She tapped in her first birdie on the par five 11th, but her nightmare began on the 13th hole. Hitting her tee shot into the rough, she under clubbed her second shot, which ended two metres short landing in the water hazard.

Dropping out to sixty-one metres her fourth shot was lifted by the wind and overshot the green by a good seven metres. Failing to up and down, Skarpnord carded a triple drop 7, and to add miserly, she then dropped a further shot on the par three 15th when she came up short, chip on and missed the putt.

"I was very angry with myself, I couldn’t believe it. But tomorrow is a new day and new round. I am positive, always positive and will go out tomorrow and do better," said a very relieved Skarpnord seeing her mental anguish was over for the day.

One shot back from the leaders is Sweden’s Emma Zackrisson with a second round score of 66, while the leading South African is Stacy Bregman, who shot a -4 under par second round to go into the final round four shots off the pace on -6 under par for the tournament.

Two shots back from Bregman, is Marne Roos who has her sights firmly set on the leading amateur title carding a second round score of 71, -4 under par for the tournament. The final round of the Telkom Women’s Classic starts at the Zwartkop Country Club tomorrow at 07h00, with the leaders off at 09h10. 

(*) Denotes amateur
South African unless otherwise noted