Golf: Lora on par with Lunn

(First Edition)

LORA FAIRCLOUGH earned the nickname of 'the baby-faced killer' as an amateur and she lived up to it with a second round of 71 to move into a share of the halfway lead in the IBM Open, writes John Bolton from Haninge, Stockholm.

Fairclough joined the British Open champion, Karen Lunn from Australia, and Sweden's Carin Hjalmarsson at the top of the leaderboard on 143, three under par. Fairclough, 23, is a former English girls' champion and was a reserve for the Curtis Cup side three years ago.

Last year she had three top-10 finishes to confirm a promising future. Fairclough compiled her 71 yesterday in her usual quiet manner. She never exceeded par and her two birdies came with putts of 15 and six feet at the second and 14th holes. 'I hit the ball better than I have all season and only missed one green,' Fairclough said.

It was at the short 16th where she was bunkered that Fairclough had her solitary lapse, but she secured her par with a putt of 15 feet.

Lunn made her move with a best-of-the-day 68 after a spectacular start at the 487-yard opening hole, where she hit two drivers to four feet for a stunning eagle three.

IBM SWEDISH OPEN (Haninge, Stockholm): Leading second round scores (GB or Irl unless stated): 143 C Hjalmarsson (Swe) 72 71; K Lunn (Aus) 75 68; L Fairclough 72 71. 144 S Moon (US) 74 70; A Gottmo (Swe) 72 72. 145 C Dibnah (Aus) 72 73; M Lunn (Aus) 74 71; V Palli (Fr) 73 72. 146 T Johnson 73 73; *C Sorenstam (Swe) 73 73; C Nilsmark (Swe) 77 69; A Nicholas 75 71. 147 S Gautrey (Aus) 74 73; A Shapcott 74 73; M Spencer-Devlin (US) 72 75; F Dassu (It) 72 75; R Lautens (Swit) 76 71; J Allmark (Swe) 72 75; L Neumann (Swe) 74 73; J Geddes (US) 73 74; H Dobson 76 71. Selected British scores: 148 L Davies 74 74; H Wadsworth 75 73. 149 J Forbes 74 75. 150 D Dowling 75 75.