South Australian Blum leads Webex Players Series Victoria
Kristalle Blum – image Australian Golf Media
South Australian Kristalle Blum has retained her first-round lead at the halfway stage of the Webex Players Series Victoria event as the mixed-gender event heads into the final 36 holes at the Rosebud Country Club on the Mornington Peninsula.
The 26-year-old, who plays on the Ladies European Tour’s secondary division where she recorded four top tens amongst 14 starts there in 2023, missed the cut in this event last year but after an opening round of 62 on Thursday to lead the field she added a 67 in gusty winds to have her two ahead of Thailand’s Saraporn Chamchoi.
The performance represents a significant turnaround in recent form, Blum having missed the cut in her previous three events.
In a share of 3rd place and the leading men are last week’s Murray River event winner, Kazuma Kobori of New Zealand, New South Wales’ Justin Warren who just a week ago earned Asian Tour playing rights for 2024, South Australian Lachlan Barker and Victorian James Marchesani.
Perhaps the most surprising aspect of the opening two rounds was the disappointing performance of several players who played so well at Murray River last week.
Momoka Kobori, Michael Hendry, Andrew Kelly and Jak Carter all missed the cut, after featuring in last week’s event while recent winner, Matt Griffin has now missed the cut in three of his last four starts although he did win the fourth of them.
