Jenny Bae shot her second straight round of 69 to eke in front of the pack halfway through the Mexico Riviera Maya Open on Friday in Playa del Carmen, Mexico.
Bae birdied the 18th hole at El Camaleon Golf Course at Mayakoba to reach 6-under 138 after two rounds at the inaugural LPGA event. She finished the day one stroke better than Brianna Do (71) and China’s Miranda Wang, who had the round of the day with a 7-under 65.
Bae is ranked No. 222 in the world, Wang is No. 225 and Do is primed to leap up from the No. 840 position.
Bae, 23, hails from Georgia and has yet to win on the LPGA Tour. She collected her three professional wins on the Epson Tour.
“When I go home I usually try to do the same routine, you know, go see my coach and try to improve on the little things since I don’t have that much time to do something drastic,” Bae said. “So just try to get my confidence back up back home and come out here with a positive and clear mind.”
Her clear mind showed Friday as she pulled out five birdies to counteract two bogeys despite missing seven greens in regulation.
“I definitely feel like I’ve gotten a good grasp of the wind,” Bae said. “I am starting to understand how I need to play each shot depending on which way the wind is blowing. That’s a really big advantage out here, so hopefully I’ll be carry that on to the weekend.”
Wang, an LPGA rookie, matched her career-low score by making seven birdies without a bogey. She was one of only two players to go bogey-free on Friday, joined by Scotland’s Gemma Dryburgh (70).
“I had a good day on the golf course,” Wang said. “Yesterday my driver wasn’t hitting really good so I spend a little time on driving range yesterday, so today it’s — I found my swing on the tee box, and on the fairway I was hitting really good.”
Do made her season debut Thursday by making two birdies and an eagle through five holes on her way to the first-round co-lead. She was stellar for most of Friday, too, climbing as high as 8 under before a bogey-double bogey finish to her round.
“I didn’t have the best finish today so it’s a little sour in my mouth right now,” Do said. “I played solid for most of the 36 holes, so feeling good.”
Tied for fourth at 4 under are South Koreans Jeongeun Lee5 (69), Hye-Jin Choi (71) and Jenny Shin (72), along with Jing Yan of China (68) and Australian Gabriela Ruffels (69).
The cut line landed at 4 over par. Notable players to miss the cut included Sei Young Kim of South Korea (5 over) and Leona Maguire of Ireland (6 over).
–Field Level Media
