Korea closes in Sirikit stranglehold

Ye Won Lee on Thursday during the Queen Sirikit Cup in 2019.

Click here for live scoring from the 2019 Queen Sirikit Cup.

Many end-of-the-line leads look shaky and good – Korea at the Queen Sirikit Cup in Adelaide tomorrow is certainly not there.

The Koreans, winners of 11 of the past 12 editions of this Asia-Pacific women's team title, today put a stranglehold on another, extending to an impressive 14-stroke lead on the shoulders of an impressive wave of all three team members

In fact, so dominant are the latest version of the "Seoul Sisters" that runs six on two on the individual leaderboard, Uhjin Seo, Ye-Been Sohn is second on four below and Ye Woon Lee equals fourth on one below.

On the other hand, India and New Zealand are the next best nations to have all three players listed on the leaderboard, but their respective third players & # 39; only appear on T20.

So, with the exception of a collapse of almost unimaginable proportions, Korea, already at the age of 12, will salute 21 Queen Sirikit Cups for the 21st time, leaving behind a collection of nations to defeat the small podium places.

Hostland Australia is best placed at two over, one away from emerging powers India and China in a fourth share, with New Zealand at four o'clock, with Japan and Thailand both at six after the last of the most likely challengers for the second place.

But while their competitors hope for mystical moments of clarity just to compete, it is the title defending champion Koreans that they almost keep finding at will.

Seo and Lee, who shot 68 and 69 respectively as the best laps of the day, both had theirs on the 18th hole at Glenelg, the ninth of their rounds starting on the 10th tee.

Seo strands her second shot – a 3-wood on the rather long par-five – on the left side of the fairway and, even to her surprise, it screwed between a few overhanging branches to hunt the front of the green

From there, she calmly drilled a 14-meter spear to set the Korean train in run-away mode.

A few minutes later in the next group, Lee spectacularly played a bunker shot from 20 meters to within 50 cm and the resulting birdie was her second in a row and precursor to four more on the "front nine" when that train ran away.

For her part, Sohn did not bring her A-game and fought against a wandering driver in her second round, despite the immaculate score conditions.

Still, the leader of the day dug deep and did not endure a shot down the whole day, and eventually signed for a two-in-a-row 71 to strengthen the depth and class of the team.

"It was exactly that moment when things turned for me," said Seo through a translator.

"I was lucky not to hit the tree, but when it (my second shot on the 18th) continued (the branches), it was almost a turning point for my round."

In contrast to almost everything in awe looking at the powerhouse team, Lee insisted that the job was not complete and that she and her teammates would not relax tomorrow.

"Everything can happen in a team wave and 10-shot leads can quickly disappear, so we have to play well tomorrow," Lee said.

The two best scores from each of the 14 participating countries count towards the team total of each day. The lowest combined total after the third and final round of tomorrow will win the Queen Sirikit Cup.