Australia’s Hannah Green, coming off a runner-up finish last week at the LA Open, is in position to improve on that result just down the road this week.
Green holds a three-shot lead at the midpoint of the Palos Verdes Championship in Palos Verdes Estates, Calif.
Thanks to a 6-under-par 66 on Friday in the second round, Green is at 9-under 133 through two rounds.
First-round leader Minjee Lee of Australia fell into a tie for second at 6 under after a 73 on Friday.
Megan Khang (second-round 69), New Zealand’s Lydia Ko (67) and South Korea’s Jin Young Ko (72) are also at 3 under.
Annie Park (69), Jennifer Chang (72) and Canada’s Maude-Aimee Leblanc (68) share sixth place at 5 under. Robynn Ree (68), Marina Alex (68), Andrea Lee (68), South Korea’s Inbee Park (67) and Denmark’s Nanna Koerstz Madsen (69) are tied for ninth at 4 under.
Green, 25, owns two career LPGA wins, both in 2019. She finished five strokes behind Japan’s Nasa Hataoka last week at the LA Open.
On Friday, she began her round with three consecutive birdies, then added two more at Nos. 6 and 7. She bogeyed Nos. 12 and 13 before responding with birdies at Nos. 14 and 16.
“I had a lot of close wedge shots today which is nice, because I feel like that hasn’t really been the strongest part of my game as of late,” Green said. “Started with three birdies and the longest putt I had was 5 feet, so that’s always nice. But made a couple errors coming in.
“Kind of got a little bit gusty and tricky with the wind, trying to figure out the correct club and shots. So hopefully I can keep as many bogeys off the scorecard and keep making birdies. I think there will be some low scores.”
Ko experienced an up-and-down round that included five birdies, one bogey, one eagle and one double bogey.
“I was able to make a good comeback after every mistake, and then I made a mistake again on the next hole,” she said.
Ko believes it’s impossible to handicap the field heading into the weekend.
“I feel like this is a course where you could be a long hitter, short hitter. It’s not like a huge advantage to one type of player,” she said. “It’s a fair game for everyone. I think that’s why it’s quite a diverse leaderboard as well.”
–Field Level Media