Henderson Rookie Caroline Hedwall: in contention for her fourth LET title

Henderson Rookie Caroline Hedwall fired a three under par 69 on the second morning at Suzhou Taihu International Golf Club to claim a share of the clubhouse lead with Giulia Sergas (70) and overnight leader Becky Brewerton (71).

Hedwall picked up three shots on the front nine in the worst of the morning’s rainy conditions before rolling in a five-footer for birdie on the par-three eighth hole as sunshine began to burst through the cloud.

The first year Ladies European Tour professional finished with a three-putt bogey on the ninth green after her first putt hit a spike mark, has played herself well into contention for her fourth title of the season at the Suzhou Taihu Ladies Open in China.

She sits alongside Brewerton, who rallied to finish with three straight birdies and Sergas, who recovered from a double bogey on the par-five fifth with four birdies on the card.

“It would have been good to be seven under for tomorrow because I’m pretty sure Yani’s going to put up a good score today, but we’ll see,” lamented Hedwall. “It’s definitely a good position and I’m the leader right now so hopefully I’ll still be in a good position.”

The hugely favoured world number one Tseng, placed on four under overnight, began her second at 11.30am local time and remained at level par for the day through three holes.

Hedwall wasn’t bothered by the wet greens and fairways. “It did play pretty long in the morning but I guess I am used to it. This is pretty much the weather we have in Sweden so I feel comfortable playing in this type of weather.

“I like the greens here and they are very similar to the greens that my club in college had, so I feel very comfortable on them,” she said.

Brewerton was two over for the round after 13 holes but turned her game around from the 16th.

“It was a little bit different. I struggled off the tee today which made a big difference and I only hit six fairways, so obviously that made it tough to get close to the pin with the rough being wet with the rain this morning it was a bit harder to control,” said Brewerton, who has two official career titles on the Ladies European Tour.

“My caddie noticed the difference in the last three holes there were I made three birdies. He said I was relaxed and obviously something changed. I think its attitude a bit as well as trying as hard as possible today to stay relaxed but it seemed a bit more difficult than yesterday.”

Sergas was also pleased to be in the hunt after calculating the wrong yardage on the fifth, where she found her ball plugged in a bunker.

“It was a bad morning, you know, foggy and raining, so I said, just take it easy and I shot two under the second nine. When the sun came out it was easier,” Sergas said.

The Italian is targeting her first victory in nine years as a professional, having come close with a second place finish in Sicily three weeks’ ago and in New Zealand earlier this year.

Thailand’s Thidapa Suwannapura surprised herself by posting a 67 to end a stroke back on five under par alongside Scotland’s Vikki Laing, who shot 69.

Suwannapura said that she was not used to playing in such cool, cloudy and rainy conditions coming from Thailand, but she had been able to clear her mind knowing that her family were safe, having moved out of Bangkok to avoid the floods.