The LPGA Tour concludes its Asian tour with the Blue Bay LPGA, a tournament that began this Thursday in China, at the Jian Lake Blue Bay Golf Course, and returns to the calendar five years later. The competition has kicked off with a star-studded high-flying match featuring Lilia Vu, Celine Boutier and Minjee Lee. The first two are vying for the world Number One this week, well, it was the third who started with better spirits and has caught the lead with a score of 65 strokes, seven under par.
Minjee Lee has no options in China to become the world’s first, but she can win her eleventh title on the LPGA Tour, which is no small feat. The Australian has taken a longer than usual break this preseason, she has not returned to competition until last week and it seems to have done her very well.
Her golf today has been of many carats, with seven birdies without error and an excellent long game. She has caught 17 greens. She begins the reconquest of a tournament that she already caught in 2016 in a notable way.
One stroke behind Minjee Lee are Sarah Schmelzel (-6), who started as leader just seven days ago in Singapore, Ruixin Liu (-6) and Miranda Wang (-6), the two players who are currently best defending the Chinese pavilion. Liu, the best of the Epson two years ago, is playing her first LPGA Tour tournament of the year and Wang was a rookie at the Epson last year and won a tournament. At the top are also Lucy Li (-5) and Lydia Ko (-4).
Azahara Muñoz (+1) is the only Spanish representative in this event that does have a cut after the second day. Provisionally it is located at +1, precisely the result of the Malaga player. Azahara has signed today a masterful round around the green. Her 73 strokes with just seven greens caught can practically be described as a feat. She has recovered eight of the eleven that have escaped her. Sensational. She managed to survive the ambush and on Friday she will play in the morning to try to climb positions.
Lilia Vu (PAR) and Celine Boutier (+1) have also not had their best tournament start. It seems that the fight for the Number One has taken its toll on both.
