Grace Kim (-12) has opened a gap in the second round of the JM Eagle LA Championship, a tournament of the LPGA Tour that is taking place on the Wilshere Country Club course in Los Angeles, at the foot of Hollywood. The 23-year-old Australian Kim, who already achieved her first victory on the American circuit in her rookie year in 2023, has handed in a card of 66 strokes and has reinforced her leadership with a more than interesting distance of four strokes from the second position occupied by Maja Stark (-8), in the fight to win for the second consecutive week, and six already over Esther Henseleit (-6) and Hannah Green (-6).
In view of Grace Kim’s deployment, the mythical popular saying of golf could well be coined as playing something else. However, what is really happening is that she seems to be putting on other greens. Or at least, no one is understanding them better than her. As usually happens in California, they are poa, a grass that grows a lot and irregularly throughout the day with the heat and complicates things a lot for the parties that go out in the afternoon.
Precisely the greens have become an almost insurmountable wall for Carlota Ciganda (+2) and Azahara Muñoz (+4). The Navarrese has passed the cut asking for the time after suffering the unspeakable around the hole. She needed 35 putts, signed two on average per green in regulation and three-putted on two occasions. All these figures together make it impossible to achieve a good result. At least, despite her 75 strokes, she has been able to resist to get into the weekend.
Who has not been able to do it is Azahara. Her tee to green game, especially the second shots, has not been as fine as Carlota’s and she has signed 76 strokes, including equally a three-putt and 34 putts with twelve greens in regulation. Too much burden to be involved in the fight.
Similarly, Ana Peláez (+9) has also been left out of the cut in Los Angeles, although the causes in the case of the Malaga woman must be sought outside the green. Too irregular with her long game. This Friday she has barely been able to catch seven greens, a figure too low to be really competitive in a circuit like the LPGA. It has not been a good week for the Malaga woman, although she will surely come back even stronger.
