SOUTHPORT, England — Yani Tseng certainly is consistent.
The 21-year-old from Taiwan shot her second consecutive 4-under 68 on Friday, taking a four-shot lead after the second round of the Women’s British Open. The American duo of Brittany Lincicome and Christie Kerr joined Amy Young of South Korea in the chase entering the weekend.
“There was no wind this morning and it was very calm, so it was nice out there,” said Tseng, who is trying to win her third major championship. “The course played totally different than what we played the last three days, so it was really nice.”
Rain washed over Royal Birkdale in the afternoon, making things difficult for the late starters — including defending champion Catriona Matthew of Scotland, who missed the cut by seven strokes after making a 10 at the par-four 13th hole.
Her tee shot landed in a bush, and she eventually found the deep rough near the green. After three tries to hack her way out of it, Matthew ended up taking a penalty drop, chipping onto the green and two-putting for her 10 — only to birdie the par-3 next hole.
“After the 10 I just wanted to get in,” said Matthew, whose 10-2 sequence on her scorecard was part of a 9-over 81. She missed the cut at 12 over.
Kerr certainly didn’t have any problems, posting the low round for the tournament with a 5-under 67. She made a pair of 10-footers for birdie on the first two holes, dropped a stroke at the eighth, then picked up four more birdies to join Lincicome ind Young at 4 under.
“I played really well today,” Kerr said. “I was determined to be more relaxed out there. I’ve been putting a lot of pressure on myself since getting the No. 1 ranking and I hadn’t really realized that’s what was going on. So I just went out and did my thing today.”
Lincicome had a birdie at the second, then dropped four strokes in a three-hole stretch beginning at the 11th. She also took advantage of an easy finish at Royal Birkdale, though, with a birdie at No. 15, an eagle two holes later and another birdie at 18 for her 1-under 71.
Veteran Julie Inkster also shot herself into contention with a 2-under 70 that left her five shots off the lead, doing so in the worst of the weather. Suzann Pettersen of Norway shot a 68 and Sun Young Yoo of South Korea had an even-par 72 to join Inkster in a tie for fifth.
“It was rainy and tedious but I was very happy with the way I played,” said the 50-year-old Inkster, who bogeyed the third hole but recovered with a birdie at the fourth. She picked up two more birdies at the 15th and 17th to finish her round with some momentum.
