Thailand's Jeeno Thitikul has opened up a three-shot lead at the halfway stage of the LPGA Tour Championship in Florida
Julio AguilarThailand's world number one Jeeno Thitikul charged up the leaderboard at the season-ending LPGA Tour Championship on Friday, carding a nine-under-par 63 to open up a three-shot lead heading into the weekend.
Jeeno, the defending champion, reeled off nine birdies and nine pars in a flawless second round at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida, to move to 14 under at the halfway stage.
The 22-year-old Asian star is aiming to win the richest tournament in women's golf for a second straight year, with the winner receiving a $4 million top prize.
Jeeno leads by three strokes from South Korea's Kim Sei-young, who shot a six-under-par 66 on Friday that leaves her firmly in contention at 11 under.
Japan's Nasa Hataoka and South Korea's Lee So-mi are a further shot back on 10 under. Hataoka rattled off her second consecutive five-under-par round of 67, while first round leader Lee had to settle for two-under-par 70, a day after an opening 64.
Former world number one Nelly Korda is in a cluster of four players tied for fifth on nine under. Korda, who struggled to a 71 on Thursday, moved back into the hunt with an eight-under-par 64 in the second round.
Korda said that some minor tweaks to her putting game had been the difference-maker in a round that included nine birdies.
"I would say yesterday was just missing by centimeters," Korda said of her putting performance on Thursday. "They were burning edges, lipping out. This has been kind of the common theme this year. I feel like I played so much better than my score has shown.
"So I honestly just went to the putting green for five minutes and simplified it. Just didn't do too much."
rcw/sla
Originally published on doc.afp.com, part of the BLOX Digital Content Exchange.
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