Ireland move up two places

Kelli Shean of Cape Town and Ashleigh Simon of Johannesburg each shot three-under-par 69s to propel South Africa into the lead by three strokes over Germany after the second day’s play at the 2006 Women’s World Amateur Team Championship. Stellenbosch, South Africa.

Ireland moved up two places to 24th after improving on yesterday’s total by two shots. Cork’s Claire Coughlan was best of the Irish with a two over par 74 while Martina Gillen was one further back on 75. Tricia Mangan turned comfortably but carded a wretched six over back nine to finish on 79.

First-day leaders Japan fell to third place at 281 despite even-par 72s from Mika Miyasato and Rikako Morita, who shot 65 in the first round.

Meanwhile, France moved strongly from tied for 12th to sole fourth by posting the lowest daily total of the championship (136) on a pair of 68s from Anne-Lisa Caudal and Melodie Bourdy. Their 136 is the second-lowest team score for any round in the history of the Espirito Santo competition.

Defending champion Sweden and Chinese Taipei, who were tied for second through 18 holes, both lost ground, moving to tied for fifth and tied for seventh, respectively. Also in the top 10 were England (284, T5th), Korea and Australia (286, T7th) and Colombia (288, 10th).

Full Scoring:

277 South Africa

280 Germany

281 Japan

282 France

284 England Sweden

286 Korea Chinese Taipei Australia

288 Colombia

289 Netherlands

290 Canada New Zealand United States of America

291 Spain

292 Italy

293 Austria

294 Russian Federation Scotland

297 Venezuela

298 Wales

299 Mexico Czech Republic

301 Chile Ireland (T Mangan 77 79, M Gillen 74 75, C Coughlan 81 74)

302 Belgium Argentina

303 Finland Philippines

304 Brazil

305 Norway

308 Iceland

310 Bermuda

319 Egypt

320 Switzerland Puerto Rico Guatemala

328 Trinidad & Tobago

331 Slovakia

343 Zambia

349 Croatia

378 Gabon