After two years in the wilderness, Australian golfer Lindsey Wright has rocketed back into favour with a six-under-par 66 to take the clubhouse lead at the mid-way point of the second round at the women’s NSW Open.
Wright, who reached a high of 12th in the world in 2009 before two disappointing seasons, posted a bogey-free round on Saturday to move to seven-under for the tournament.
The 32-year-old hopes to turn over a new leaf in 2012, and has already posted a top-20 finish at the Victorian Open and a top 10 at the Canberra Ladies Classic last week.
She said it was her aggression which powered her to the solid round at Oatlands golf club.
“I played at the flag, aggressive,” she told reporters after her round.
“My shots didn’t leave the flag. Everything was for birdie today.
“I wasn’t trying to scrape around to save par which I’ve been doing for so long.”
Wright lamented her poor finish on day one, when she double-bogeyed the 18th to finish at one-under for the day – something she avoided on Saturday with a par.
“It was a really good round, following up from (Friday),” she said.
“(although) I screwed up the last hole (on Friday) which was really annoying.”
Overnight co-leader Rachel Bailey was unable to follow up her impressive opening round 68, posting an even-par 72 to stay four-under for the tournament.
Bailey started strongly, picking up a birdie again on the fourth but two bogeys ruined an otherwise consistent round and left her equal with Marianne Skarpnord and Nikki Garrett, who both shot one-under.
England’s former world No.1 Laura Davies again struggled with consistency, mixing four birdies with two bogeys and a double bogey to finish even for the day to stay one-over for the tournament.