Canada’s Maddie Szeryk and Thailand’s Moriya Jutanugarn each carded an eagle on Friday while moving into a tie for first with South Korea’s Jenny Shin at the LPGA Drive On Championship in Gold Canyon, Ariz.
Szeryk and Jutanugarn each shot 7-under-par 65 in the second round at Superstition Mountain Golf and Country Club, leaving them at 12-under 132. Shin posted a 67 on Friday to also sit at 12 under.
Lilia Vu holds sole possession of fourth place at 11 under following a 66.
Alison Lee (69 on Friday) and South Korea’s Narin An (67) are tied for fifth at 10 under.
Annie Park (65), South Korea’s Jin Young Ko (65) and Eun-Hee Ji (66), France’s Celine Boutier (66), Denmark’s Emily Kristine Pedersen (66), China’s Ruoning Yin (67) and Xiaowen Yin (67) and England’s Georgia Hall (67) share seventh place at 9 under.
Szeryk, starting on the back nine, made eagle on the par-4 14th hole to leave her 4 under through five holes on the day. She gave back one stroke on her lone bogey of the day, at the par-3 17th hole, before adding four birdies on the front nine.
“I’m on such a high,” Szeryk said. “My goal for the week was to get to double digits and I’m past it, so, I’m like, OK, great. Just to go out tomorrow and have another good day.”
Jutanugarn’s bogey-free round featured three consecutive birdies surrounding the turn plus an eagle on the par-5 seventh hole, which she said might’ve been a bit of a lucky break.
“It’s actually a really good drive off the tee and then it gets on the cart path and I just have to drop from there,” Jutanugarn said. “And then it’s not a very good shot on the second shot, but pretty lucky as the ball bounced up all the way like to the back of the green and I just made the putt. It was fun.”
Shin had two bogeys surrounding a birdie and a par to begin her round on the back nine before she rediscovered her form. She reeled off five consecutive birdies before the turn, then added one birdie and eight pars on the front nine.
“I’m happy to be where I am,” Shin said.
She added of the conditions, “I actually thought it was really difficult. I was expecting no wind teeing off in the morning and the wind picked up as soon as we were on the range and never stopped. It was swirling. I couldn’t really tell which direction it was coming from.
“Really tough, but right in the middle I gave myself pretty good opportunities with the short clubs in. Made a few putts outside of the green today, so that helped tremendously.”
Defending tournament champion Leona Maguire of Ireland is tied for 32nd at 6 under following a 68 on Friday.
–Field Level Media
