GEORGIA Hall will put thoughts of a Solheim Cup debut to one side as she focuses on becoming the first English winner of the Ricoh British Open since 2004.
Hall carded a second round of 67 at Kingsbarns to share second place alongside world number two Lexi Thompson, two shots behind South Korea’s IK Kim.
Kim added a 68 to her opening 65 to post a halfway total of 11 under par, with first-round leader Michelle Wie falling seven shots off the pace after a disappointing 76, 12 shots worse than her course record on Thursday.
Hall’s place on the European Solheim Cup team will be confirmed when the team is finalised tomorrow evening, but the 21-year-old from Bournemouth is trying to avoid thinking about the contest with the United States later this month.
“It’s been a massive thing for me growing up and it’s not far away now, so I’m going to think about that next week and just focus on the next two rounds,” Hall said after a round containing seven birdies, including four in a row from the second.
“I don’t think I’ve had four birdies in a row before, so I was very happy to be four under after five.
“I holed a good putt on the second and had a tap-in on three, a 20-footer for birdie on four and made an eight-footer on the fifth. I’m playing and putting really well, so that’s helping me.”
Thompson’s caddie Kevin McAlpine used to work at Kingsbarns and is the son of former Dundee United goalkeeper Hamish, as well as being a former Scottish amateur champion.
“This week he has some local knowledge so I’ve been trusting him so much and leaning on him,” Thompson said. “He knows this course like the back of his hand so it’s been helping me out a lot.”
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