South Korea’s In Gee Chun remains the runaway leader of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, as she holds a six-shot lead after Friday’s second round at Bethesda, Md.
Chun, up by five after the first round, carded a 3-under-par 69 on Friday at Congressional Country Club to add a stroke to her advantage. She sits at 11-under 173 at the tournament’s midpoint.
New Zealand’s Lydia Ko, who shot a second-round 67, and Jennifer Kupcho, who carded a 68 on Friday, are tied for second at 5 under.
Caroline Inglis (second-round 68), Jennifer Chang (70), South Korea’s Sei Young Kim (69), Australia’s Hannah Green (69) and Canada’s Brooke M. Henderson (69) share fourth place at 4 under.
Lexi Thompson, whose 67 matched the low round of the day, is tied for ninth. She is joined at 3 under by Australia’s Minjee Lee (68), China’s Xiyu Lin (68), South Korea’s Hye-Jin Choi (72) and Thailand’s Pornanong Phatlum (72).
Chun began and ended her round well. She birdied three of her first five holes but gave back two strokes with consecutive bogeys at Nos. 7 and 8. After a birdie at No. 10, she made seven straight pars before birdieing the 18th hole.
“I really wanted to .. finish with a birdie, so I tried (to have) really good focus,” Chun said. “I did everything on that putt. That’s why I say I’m so happy I made it.”
Although Chun finished the day five strokes worse than the course-record 64 she produced on Thursday, she was satisfied with her day’s work.
“I think (69) is still a great score,” said Chun, who is looking for her third career major championship. “Before I started today, I really don’t want to think about yesterday. It was almost a perfect game I had (Thursday).”
Ko made her move in the middle of her round, when she logged four birdies in a five-hole span. She bounced back from her lone bogey of the day, at No. 15, with a birdie at No. 16.
“I think I just tried to focus on my game, and hopefully stick around for the weekend,” Ko said. “This is my fourth week in a row, and I try not to play more than three, four weeks in a row, and this is the first of that four-week stretch for me this year. …
“I think two solid days of golf and hopefully I better cap off these next two days in a solid way and have a great three weeks off.”
Kupcho’s up-and-down round featured seven birdies and three bogeys.
Defending champion Nelly Korda is tied for 41st at 1 over par after a 74.
–Field Level Media