US LPGA sail ahead of Japan

The US team captain, Lorie Kane, and Janice Moodie swung their way to a 9-under-par 63 on Saturday as the US LPGA took the lead at the Nichirei International women's golf championship in Narita, Japan.

The US team captain, Lorie Kane, and Janice Moodie swung their way to a 9-under-par 63 on Saturday as the US LPGA took the lead at the Nichirei International women's golf championship in Narita, Japan.

The US women grabbed victories in five of the six four-ball, stroke-play matches, notching up five points to secure a 9-3 advantage over the Japanese competitors at the Sosei Country Club in Chiba Prefecture (state).

The teams accumulate points over three days of play, with a point awarded for each won match. Sunday is the final round of 12 individual head-to-head stroke-play matches, with a maximum of 12 points possible for each team.

The United States now only needs three wins and a tie on Sunday for a championship victory.

In Saturday's play, Laura Davies and Murdi Lunn of the United States, with a score of 63, beat Akiko Fukushima and Aki Takamura by seven strokes to tie with the Lorie Kane and Janice Moodie US team for the best score of the day.

Nancy Scranton and Rachel Hetherington defeated Ku Ok Hee and Yuri Fudo 66-67.

Liselotte Neumann and US LPGA rookie-of-the-year Kim Mi Hyun recovered from their opening-day loss when they sunk Han Hee Won and Midori Yoneyama 66-72, and Tina Barrett and Cindy McCurdy defeated Fuki Kido and Junko Yasui 67-68.

A 68-71 victory against Rosie Jones and Sherri Steinhauer by Japanese captain Fumiko Muraguchi and Hiromi Kobayashi kept the US team from pinching every Saturday win. Kobayashi is a US LPGA player who opted to side with the hosts in this year's event.

The winning team will take $450,000 of the total $702,000 purse.

Nichirei Results

US LPGA beats Japan in second round

Second round scores on Saturday in the Nichirei International women's golf championship on the 6,405 yard, par 72 Sosei Country Club in Chiba Prefecture (state): United States 9, Japan 3. Four-ball Stroke Play:

Lorie Kane and Janice Moodie, US beat Aki Nakano and Kaori Higo, Japan, 63-65Tina Barrett and Cindy McCurdy, US beat Fuki Kido and Junko Yasui, Japan, 67-68 Liselotte Neumann and Mi-Hyun Kim, US beat Han Hee-won and Midori Yoneyama, Japan, 66-72 Nancy Scranton and Rachel Hetherington, US beat Ku Ok-hee and Yuri Fudo, Japan, 66-67 Fumiko Muraguchi and Hiromi Kobayashi, Japan, beat Rosie Jones and Sherri Steinhauer, US 68-71.Laura Davies and Mardi Lunn, US beat Akiko Fukushima and Aki Takamura, Japan, 63-70.