Matthew maintains LPGA lead at Mobile

Catriona Matthew maintained her lead in the Airbus LPGA Classic with a second-round 67 that left her one stroke in front of teenager Charley Hull. England's Hull, playing on a sponsor's invitation, teed off early and grabbed the clubhouse lead with a 67. Overnight leader Matthew teed off shortly after Hull completed her round, and Hull wasn't surprised to see the Scottish veteran take advantage of the optimum scoring conditions to post a five-under 67 of her own. "It's a low-scoring golf course," Hull said. "We'll see at the end of the day." At the end of the day they were right where they started, separated by a stroke at the top of the leaderboard, Matthew in front with a 13-under total of 131 and Hull at 12-under 132. Matthew said staying patient was the key for the afternoon starters, who knew how many birdies the course had yielded in the morning. "We had gone out in the morning yesterday and had low scores and you knew they were going to do the same this morning," she said. "Just have to stay patient and give yourself chances and hopefully you’ll hole some of them." Matthew, a four-time winner on the LPGA tour, nabbed four of her six birdies on the back nine, her only bogey of the day coming at the par-four ninth. "I hit 17 greens, so I gave myself a lot of chances," Matthew said. "I didn’t hole many on the front nine, but then the putter got going a little bit on the back nine." Hull, who won her first Ladies European Tour title in Morocco in March, also dropped a stroke on the ninth, her last hole of the day, but had five birdies on her inward run until then. "Hitting it pretty straight," Hull said. "Hit my irons good and holing some good putts. Missing a few putts, but you're always going to miss a few putts when you're playing well." South Korean Park Hee-Young played with Matthew in the first two rounds and said watching the Scot's birdies build up had motivated her. Park eagled the 16th en route to her 66 and a share of third place with Sweden's Anna Nordqvist and American Jessica Korda. Nordqvist also carded a 66 and Korda posted a 67. "I really enjoyed it," Park said of playing with Matthew. "And I played really well last week, too, so my feel is not really gone. I am pretty ready and I’m going to do two more days same like this." Source: AFP