Shanshan recovers from first round disaster

Dubai: World No.4 Shanshan Feng still has a chance of retaining her Omega Dubai Ladies Masters title after recovering from her opening round 76 with a 67 on day two.

She has made the cut and now stands at one under par for the tournament, eight strokes off the lead.

The first Chinese golfer to win a Major shot one outward birdie and followed that with another four on her return in a more confident display than her bogey-laden opener.

“I’m very happy that I’ve found myself on the second day and not the third,” said Shanshan, who entered the tournament with a target finish of top five. “If I hadn’t done that today I would have missed the cut. Five under par is a good round and I’ve still got two more days to go. I’m also lucky because the leaders are not very far away, so I still have a chance.”

Having won last year’s tournament with an event record score of 21 under par 267, five strokes clear of her nearest rival, Shanshan can feel confident of a turnaround provided she can peg back leader Stacy Lewis.

“Stacy is on top and, like I said before the tournament started, I know she will make a lot of birdies here. She is going to shoot low scores so, if I want to catch her, I need to shoot even lower. It doesn’t matter. My goal is top five, so I’m still relaxed. I just had a great day and I just want to play two more great rounds, that’s it.”