Angel Yin and Allisen Corpuz shot matching 67s to vault into the lead by one stroke at the Chevron Championship in The Woodlands, Texas, on Saturday.
The pair sit at 10-under-par 206 after 54 holes of the LPGA’s first major of the season.
With Friday’s action suspended due to darkness, 31 players returned to the course early to finish their second rounds at the Jack Nicklaus Signature Course at The Club at Carlton Woods.
South Korean Amy Yang fired 7-under 65 to jump 22 spots up the leaderboard and into a tie for third at 9 under. She’s joined there by Megan Khang (70 on Saturday) and Albane Valenzuela (68) of Switzerland.
Second-round leader A Lim Kim of South Korea shot 72 and fell into a tie for sixth at 8 under with three other players — Nelly Korda (70) and South Koreans Hyo Joo Kim (68) and Hye-Jin Choi (67).
Thailand’s Atthaya Thitikul (68) sits solo 10th three shots back at 7 under. South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai (66) and Lilia Vu (73) are within striking distance at 6 under in a tie for 11th.
Corpuz turned in a bogey-free round, posting birdies on four of her first five holes. She added another on the par-5 13th for her 67. Turning in a clean card wasn’t easy, she said.
“I think it’s a pretty tough course, but I also think if you’re just making sure your misses are in the right spot, it’s doable,” Corpuz said. “I wouldn’t say it’s easy, but it’s out there.”
Yin posted an early bogey but carded six birdies for her round, including three of her final four holes. Yin was one of the players who had to complete her second round early Saturday, carding a second-round 70.
“I started out really early,” Yin said. “I was walking down 16, I was like, ‘Wow, I feel like I’ve been here before.’ Oh, I did. I was just here this morning. I think it really helped me warm up my body early in the morning. Though I’m tired, my body has been like swinging, turning around since 7 in the morning. I think it really helped.”
But the round of the day went to Yang, who put herself within striking distance with eight birdies against just one bogey.
“They were all good birdies,” Yang said. “Like every one of them was a solid shot, and putting was — I felt like everything was in sync out there today. It just gave me good momentum throughout the round.”
–Field Level Media