ANTALYA, Turkey (Sept. 28, 2012) -- Defending champion Republic of Korea, boosted by a 5-under-par 67 from Hyo-Joo Kim and a 3-under-par 69 from Min-Sun Kim for a team total of 8-under 136, surged into the lead after the second round of the 2012 Women’s World Amateur Team Championship (WWATC) at Gloria Golf Club.
The Koreans, who began the day tied for eighth, posted the third-lowest second-round score in Espirito Santo Trophy history to give them a five-stroke lead over five countries. When Korea won the 2010 WWATC with a record-setting performance, it made its major move in the second round with a record score of 128 to move from a tie for 13th into the lead.Hyo-Joo Kim of the Republic of Korea fired a championship-best 67 to lead her team into the lead at the 2012 Women's World Amateur Team Championship in Antalya, Turkey. (Steve Gibbons/IGF).
Hyo-Joo Kim, 17, who won the 2012 Suntory Ladies Open on the Japan LPGA Tour in June with a final-round 61, tallied an eagle and five birdies against two bogeys for her 67 at Gloria Golf Club’s New Course for the best round of the championship. Min-Sun Kim, 17, had four birdies and one bogey in her round of 69. The team’s 36-hole score is 280.
“Yesterday, we were a little tense and we were not 100 percent on our game,” said Korean coach Young-Min Park. “Today was better. And, I think rounds three and four will be much better.”
The Women’s World Amateur Team Championship is a biennial international amateur competition conducted by the International Golf Federation, which comprises national governing bodies of golf in 126 countries and international professional tours. The competition, which is being held for the 25th time, is rotated among three geographic zones: Asia-Pacific, Americas and Europe-Africa.
This year’s event is hosted by the Turkish Golf Federation. The teams play for the Espirito Santo Trophy. The IGF is the international federation for golf for the International Olympic Committee and will conduct the Olympic golf competition in Rio de Janeiro in 2016.
In each round, the total of the two lowest scores from each team constitutes the team score for the round. The four-day (72-hole) total is the team’s score for the championship.
“In the first two rounds, I don’t feel I am playing my best,” said Hyo-Joo Kim, currently No.3 on the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking (WAGR), who finished fourth at the 2012 Evian Masters on the LPGA Tour. “My tee shots are not as accurate but my iron shots were so good.”
Korea is vying to become the first team to win in consecutive years since the USA in 1988 and 1990.
Tied for second at 3-under-par 285 are: Australia, Canada, Germany, Japan and New Zealand.
Spain holds seventh position at 286, Finland and France are tied for eighth at 287 and first-round leader Sweden and England are tied for 10th at 288.
The host team from Turkey stands tied for 38th.
ABOUT THE Women's World Amateur Team
In 1958 the United States Golf Association asked
The R&A to join them in sponsoring a world-wide
amateur golf team event to be played biennially
in non-Walker Cup years. Between 35 and 40
nations were represented at the first meeting
and President Dwight D. Eisenhower presented
the trophy which bears his name. The committee
of the event was to be known as the World
Amateur Golf Council and is now the
International Golf Federation. Teams of four
players from each country competed over 72
holes with the leading three scores from each
round to count. The first competition was held
between 29 nations at St Andrews, with Australia
beating the United States in a play-off. In 2002
the format changed to teams of three with the
two leading scores to count.
View Complete Tournament Information