Ariya Jutanugarn played her best golf on day two of the Women’s Scottish Open taking place at Dumbarnie Links in Fife.
A six-under-par 66 put Jutanugarn on nine under – three shots clear of Charley Hull and Emily Peterson as well as her Thai compatriot Atthaya Thitikul.
Jutanugarn won the 2018 tournament at Gullane. She has two victories this year, the Honda LPGA Thailand and Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational team event alongside sister Moriya.
“I felt like when I played in the windy afternoon yesterday, at least it’s going to be better for me in the morning,” she said. “And actually it wasn’t. The wind start to go really hard since the first hole. Last few holes, even worse.”
All the players had to deal with strong wind that reached 28 mph but it seems like Michele Thomson was the one who suffered the most.
“That was brutal out there,” Thomson said about the strong winds. “You are hitting good shots and it was just ridiculous. I was doing okay having reached the turn in three over, but it was really difficult around the 10th, 11th and 12th. I’m delighted to be around for the weekend and would have taken that at the start of the week. But after your expectations rise following the start I had it is disappointing to have seen shots dwindling away.”
Starting on seven under, Thompson had nine bogies with just one birdie in her round of 80, which was 15 shots worse off than her opening round and finished on one over, the projected cut.
Carly Booth, also one over, also all made it through for the final two rounds but Gemma Dryburgh (+4), Kylie Henry (+4) and Alison Muirhead (+9) missed out.
