Korea Holds Single Stroke Lead in Girls’ Division at Midway Point of 2018 TOYOTA Junior Golf World Cup Supported by JAL

TOYOTA CITY, Japan – Korea (-10) used a second round 138 to leapfrog Japan (-9) and take a one stroke lead at the halfway point of the Girls’ Division of the 2018 TOYOTA Junior Golf World Cup Supported by JAL in Toyota City, Aichi-Prefecture, Japan.

“Japan has an excellent team and they played very well yesterday while gaining the opening round lead,” Korean captain Hur Namyang said. “We were able to come back today to catch them and now hope to compete for the tournament title over the next two days.”

The two Asian representatives claim five of the top six positions on the girls’ individual leaderboard and are currently 10 shots clear of the rest of the field. Sweden (+1) jumped Canada (+2) to secure the third position while Colombia checked in fifth at 3-over. The United States sits in sixth at plus-5 and New Zealand (+8), South Africa (+16) and Italy (+20) round out the girls’ field.

Opening round co-leader Lee Sujeong of Korea continues to pace the girls’ individual competition at 6-under. Her teammate Uhm Kyuwon and Japan’s Yuka Yasuda are two shots back at minus-4. Ayaka Furue of Japan (-3) holds the fourth position – one shot clear of her teammate Yuna Nishimura and Sweden’s Ingrid Lindblad (-2).

Celeste Dao of Canada is the lone participant at even par and finds herself in the seventh spot while Colombians Valery Plata Pardo and Maria Bohorquez Fonseca claim the eighth and ninth positions at plus-1 and plus-2, respectively. Four players – Monet Chun of Canada, Americans Sadie Englemann and Gina Kim and Choi Jiwoo of Korea – are tied for 10th at 3-over.

In the boys’ competition, Denmark fired the day’s low round of 202 (-11) to grab a tie of the lead with Spain at minus-14. Japan (-9) checks in third – ahead of two teams – Korea and Thailand – tied for fourth at 6-under.

“Our boys played very well today,” Denmark coach Martin Raal Kold said. “The conditions were windy and quite tough but we played well right from the beginning and I was proud of the way the team performed.”

Argentina remains at even par – which is good for sixth place – and is three strokes clear of a three-way tie for seventh between Mexico, South Africa and Sweden (+3). Italy lays claim to the tenth position at 4-over while Colombia is in 11th at plus-6. New Zealand (+8), the United States (+11), Morocco (+12) and Canada (+15) close out the boys’ field.

Denmark’s Nicolai Høgaard sits alone atop the boys’ individual leaderboard at minus-9 – two shots ahead of second place Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra Coto of Spain (-7). Denmark’s Rasmus Højgaard – Nicolai’s twin brother – is currently tied for third with Bae Yongjun of Korea at 6-under.

Opening round leader David Puig Currius of Spain holds the fifth spot at minus-5 while four players – Sweden’s Ludvig Aberg, Mauricio Figueroa of Mexico, Italy’s Andrea Romano and Arituj Winaicharoenchai of Thailand – are deadlocked in a tie for sixth (-4). Japanese teammates Ryo Hisatune and Keita Nakajima round out the top 10 at 3-under.

The third round of the 2018 TOYOTA Junior Golf World Cup Supported by JAL tees off Thursday at 8:00 AM JST. For more information – including photographs and videos from the round – please visit www.wjgtc.org and follow the tournament’s official twitter account @WJGTC.

Live scoring of the 2018 TOYOTA Junior Golf World Cup Supported by JAL is provided by Golfstat. Please visit www.golfstat.com for additional information.

GIRLS TEAM STANDINGS
1. Korea 140-138 = 278 (-10)
2. Japan 136-143 = 279 (-9)
3. Sweden 143-146 = 289 (+1)
4. Canada 142-148 = 290 (+2)
5. Colombia 147-144 = 291 (+3)
6. United States 145-148 = 293 (+5)
7. New Zealand 144-152 = 296 (+8)
8. South Africa 150-154 = 304 (+16)
9. Italy 149-159 = 308 (+20)

GIRLS INDIVIDUAL STANDINGS
1. Lee Sujeong, Korea 68-70 = 138 (-6)
T2. Uhm Kyuwon, Korea 72-68 = 140 (-4)
T2. Yuka Yasuda, Japan 70-70 = 140 (-4)
4. Ayaka Furue, Japan 68-73 = 141 (-3)
T5. Ingrid Lindblad, Sweden 70-72 = 142 (-2)
T5. Yuna Nishimura, Japan 68-74 = 142 (-2)
7. Celeste Dao, Canada 70-74 = 144 (E)
8. Valery Plata Pardo, Colombia 74-71 = 145 (+1)
9. Maria Bohorquez Fonseca, Colombia 73-73 = 146 (+2)
T10. Monet Chun, Canada 73-74 = 147 (+3)
T10. Sadie Englemann, United States 72-75 = 147 (+3)
T10. Choi Jiwoo, Korea 73-74 = 147 (+3)
T10. Gina Kim, United States 73-74 = 147 (+3)

BOYS TEAM STANDINGS
T1. Denmark 210-202 = 412 (-14)
T1. Spain 203-209 = 412 (-14)
3. Japan 208-209 = 417 (-9)
T4. Korea 205-215 = 420 (-6)
T4. Thailand 210-210 = 420 (-6)
6. Argentina 213-213 = 426 (E)
T7. Mexico 211-218 = 429 (+3)
T7. South Africa 215-214 = 429 (+3)
T7. Sweden 213-216 = 429 (+3)
10. Italy 215-215 = 430 (+4)
11. Colombia 214-218 = 432 (+6)
12. New Zealand 221-213 = 434 (+8)
13. United States 216-221 = 437 (+11)
14. Morocco 215-223 = 438 (+12)
15. Canada 218-223 = 441 (+15)

BOYS INDIVIDUAL STANDINGS

1. Nicolai Højgaard, Denmark 65-68 = 133 (-9)
2. Eugenio Lopez-Chacarra Coto, Spain 68-67 = 135 (-7)
T3. Rasmus Højgaard, Denmark 68-68 = 136 (-6)
T3. Bae Yongjun, Korea 67-69 = 136 (-6)
5. David Puig Currius, Spain 65-72 = 137 (-5)
T6. Ludvig Aberg, Sweden 67-71 = 138 (-4)
T6. Mauricio Figueroa, Mexico 69-69 = 138 (-4)
T6. Andrea Romano, Italy 70-68 = 138 (-4)
T6. Arituj Winaicharoenchai, Thailand 72-66 = 138 (-4)
T10. Ryo Hisatune, Japan 68-71 = 139 (-3)
T10. Keita Nakajima, Japan 67-72 = 139 (-3)