Rio de Janeiro, Brazil: Asia remained on track for golden glory in the Rio Olympics with Park In-bee taking route 66 all the way to the top of the half-way leaderboard in the women’s golf tournament.
Battling back from injury, the Korean fired her second successive five-under-par 66 for a 36-hole aggregate of 132.
That is one stroke ahead of American Stacy Lewis, who carded a course record 63, and two in front of England’s Charley Hull and Canadian Brooke Henderson.
Thailand’s Ariya Jutanagurn, the first round leader, returned an even-par 71 and is tied for eighth on 136, alongside Indian Aditi Ashok, at 18 the youngest player in the elite 60-strong field.
World number one Lydia Ko of New Zealand is joint 22nd on 139, while Hong Kong amateur Tiffany Chan has a share of 47th place on 146.
Park, the seven-time Major winner, admitted that she arrived in Rio more in hope than expectation after a lengthy lay-off due to an on-going thumb injury.
“I think first coming here, I didn’t really know whether I was going to play this week or not due to the injury,” admitted Park. “Obviously I didn’t expect much of a result. It was more of whether I can play or not. A good result is a great gift.”
However, the Korean has plotted a steady course for two days. She said: “I was able to convert the birdies today. I missed a couple of tee shots, so I was in the sand area, but I was able to convert them into birdies. That’s really the key for today’s round.”