Liqi Zeng Leads by One as Six Chase at Aramco China Championship

• Liqi Zeng leads the Aramco China Championship on 12 under par after 36 holes.
• Six players share second on 11 under, including English trio Charlotte Heath, Mimi Rhodes and Annabell Fuller.
• The cut fell at one under par, with 67 players advancing to the weekend.

Liqi Zeng started her second round at the Aramco China Championship by holing out from the rough for eagle. By the end of Friday the 20-year-old held the outright lead on 12 under par at Mission Hills China, one shot clear of a group of six.

Zeng had shared the first-round lead after a 65 on the World Cup Course and added a four-under 69. Starting on the 10th, she eagled her opening hole and birdied the 13th. A bogey at the fourth was followed by back-to-back birdies at the sixth and seventh before she dropped another shot at the ninth.

“For number 10, my first hole, I missed my driver to the right and I fell in the rough, but the second shot was very nice and it’s just in the hole,” said Zeng. “I’m very happy, it’s been a long time since I have had an eagle from the fairway.”

“Today my driver is not very good, I missed some short putts, but it’s fine I was four-under, so it’s still a good day,” she said.

Who is chasing Zeng?

Six players are tied for second on 11 under: England’s Heath, Rhodes and Fuller, China’s Shiyuan Zhou and Spain’s Luna Sobron Galmes and Ana Peláez Triviño.

Rhodes, part of the European team that reclaimed the Solheim Cup at Bernardus in September, shot a bogey-free 68 with birdies at the second, eighth, ninth, 11th and 18th. She arrived in Shenzhen after sharing third at the Wistron Ladies Open last week.

“I’m not really missing any fairways and not many greens, so I would say every day I’m just trying to shoot lower and lower than the day before,” said Rhodes. “I’m trying to come out of it leading each day.”

Zhou, 16, matched the day’s best with a 66, made up of eight birdies and one bogey. It was a strong round for a player who spent three months out with a wrist injury.

“I put all my focus on my wrist and just hope it can be better and it’s better now,” said Zhou. “My irons were all good today, I feel really smooth and I totally controlled my body today.”

Peláez Triviño also shot 66 without a bogey. The Spaniard, who tied seventh in Chinese Taipei last week, birdied the 12th and eagled the 18th. She then made four straight birdies from the first.

“My furthest putt was maybe 15 feet, I was getting that momentum of I can’t miss and that kept going for five holes,” said Peláez Triviño.

Her compatriot Sobron Galmes carded a 67 with seven birdies and one bogey.

“I don’t like courses that are always straight and wide,” she said. “I like narrow and moving the ball, so this course fits me a lot.”

Fuller and Heath hang on

Fuller and Heath, Zeng’s overnight co-leaders, both made five birdies and two bogeys for 70s. Fuller felt her ball-striking had slipped from Thursday.

“I’ve been disappointed being very close to making cuts and I have been missing them by one which grinds on you a little bit,” said Fuller. “I kept my head down and kept working, I waited for a good round and that was yesterday.”

Heath, who won her maiden LET title at La Sella in September, said her ball-striking had improved but her putting had not.

“It’s one of those golf courses where you just have to keep pushing because anybody could have a really low round,” said Heath.

Further down the leaderboard

Chinese amateur Yujie Liu, alone in fourth after round one, shot 70 and sits solo eighth on 10 under. Czechia’s Sara Kouskova, runner-up at the Aramco Korea Championship last month, is tied ninth on nine under with defending champion Ruixin Liu.

The cut fell at one under par, and 67 players made it through to the weekend. The tournament finishes on Sunday, November 8.

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Aramco China Championship Leaderboard