Sharmila stays in title at Beijing Ladies; lies second

Beijing: Despite being under the weather, Sharmila Nicollet kept herself in the title hunt with a steady two-under 70 that brought her to 6-under for 36 holes at the Le Coq Sportif Beijing Ladies Classic.

Sharmila is lying Tied-2nd and one shot behind the leader, a 16-year-old amateur Liu Wenbo, who shot six-under 66 on the second day. Liu carded 71 on first day.

Sharmila shares the second place with China’s 19-year-old Shi Yuting (73-66) and Sui Xiang (71-68). Shi, who plays on Japan Ladies Tour, retained her Chinese National title last week and also helped her side win the team event.

Sharmila, one of the five co-leaders after the first round, said she was still running slight fever for the last few days. 

She opened with a bogey but soon steadied herself. She had birdies on 13th, her fourth hole of the day, the par-3 17th and Par-5 fourth and no more bogeys.

With rounds of 68-70 on first two days, Sharmila has been playing consistent and said, I just want to stay fit and calm for one more day as I have been somewhat under weather, but my game is in good shape. 

She said, My goal has been to keep playing under par and results will follow. It was so in Hong Kong, where I was T-16 and here I have been maintaining that.

The long-hitting Sharmila added, My putting was inconsistent. I have been working on the stroke and changed my putter last month and it is working well. I am more confident and the game is in a good place. 

The 27-year-old Sharmila is on a comeback trail, and is dividing her time between China LPGA and Ladies European Tour. She had a good finish in Hong Kong Ladies, where she was T-16.

The leader, Liu Wenbo is a 16-year-old amateur, who in April became the youngest player to win a China LPGA Tour event when she captured the Zhangjiagang Shuangshan Challenge.