New South Wales amateur Claire Shin has brushed aside a bought of illness to join New Zealand’s Momoka Kobori on top of the leaderboard at the completion of Round 2 of the Women’s NSW Open.

Following the suspension of play at 11.28am on Saturday due to an 88mm deluge that fell in little more than an hour, players returned on Sunday morning to complete the second round at Forster-Tuncurry Golf Club’s Tuncurry Course.

Twenty-one players didn’t begin their second rounds until Sunday morning and then had a two-hour turnaround before commencing the third and final round at 1.50pm.

The final round will be played in a seeded shotgun format, with Kobori, Shin and Queensland amateur Sarah Hammett to tee off from the first hole in the designated final group.

Kobori (70-70) and Shin (72-68) lead the way at six-under through 36 holes, Hammett one stroke further back after a round of four-under 69 on Sunday morning.

Fellow Queensland teenager Godiva Kim (69-73) birdied the final three holes of her second round to work her way into a tie for fourth with Japan’s Yuna Takagi (72-70).

While the skies remained cloudy the rain stayed away throughout morning play, Shin posting six birdies and a lone bogey to match the low round of the tournament.

A member at St Michael’s Golf Club in Sydney and coached by NSW PGA High Performance Coach of the Year John Serhan, Shin is riding high on confidence after making both cuts at the Women’s Australian Open in December and winning the Avondale Bowl by seven strokes in January.

“When I played the Aussie Open I was super happy that I qualified to play with the professionals,” said Shin, who finished tied for 28th at the Women’s Australian Open and tied for 25th at the Vic Open.

“That day when I made two cuts I was just so happy.

“I won the Avondale Bowl which was my first amateur win and that just made me so confident and so happy. I thought I could do this all the time.

“Even today, shooting five-under was just a good score for me.”

Hammett, too, is becoming more accustomed to playing amongst professionals.

The 16-year-old from Emerald Lakes Golf Club on the Gold Coast recently represented Australia at the Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific Championship and is seeking to add the Women’s NSW Open title to her NSW Junior Championship triumph at Byron Bay Golf Club last July.

“It’s a great experience. To see where my game compares to all the professionals is really cool,” said Hammett, who is coached by Ji McBride at Sanctuary Cove Golf and Country Club.

“There’s a lot to learn from playing with the professionals and watching them. Having a good short game, continuously working on that will be really helpful.”

But as has been the expectation since Friday’s opening round, Kobori remains the player to beat.

She had six birdies and three bogeys in her second round, making four birdies in succession around the turn before her putter cooled over the closing six holes.

“My putter was pretty hot the first 11 holes and the last five or six holes I still gave myself chances but didn’t quite drop,” conceded Kobori, a two-time winner on the Ladies European Tour Access Series in 2022.

Given the water that inundated the course on Saturday and the 339mm of rain that has fallen on the Tuncurry course the past two weeks, the two leaders were shocked by the presentation of the course on Sunday morning.

“I feel like it’s a lot drier than it was for Round 1, which I was shocked by considering the amount of rain we had yesterday,” Kobori said.

“The superintendent and the greens staff have done a great job setting the course up the way it is. It’s looking great.”

Added Shin: “It was really dry. Yesterday was really wet, a lot of rain, a lot of thunderstorms and it was really bad.

“I was getting worried that it would be super wet around the course but it was actually pretty fine.”

A total of 52 players made the cut that fell at nine-over.

Round 3 will commence at 1.50pm with live coverage on Kayo Sports.

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