(Photo credit score: Mike Lang / Sarasota Herald-Tribune / USA TODAY NETWORK by way of Imagn Images)
Lauren Coughlin was one among simply two gamers to interrupt 70 on a windy Friday on the Aramco Championship in Las Vegas, and she or he opened a five-shot lead on the event’s midpoint.
The University of Virginia product carded a 3-under-par 69 at Shadow Creek Golf Course, leaving her at 8-under 136.
Ireland’s Leona Maguire shot 71 within the second spherical to finish in a tie for second with South Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim, the world’s third-ranked participant, who had a 73 on Friday. Both are at 3 underneath.
First-round co-leader Miyu Yamashita of Japan (second-round 75), Denmark’s Nanna Koerstz Madsen (70) and world No. 3 Nelly Korda (74) are tied for fourth at 2 underneath.
Canada’s Anna Huang (71), Japan’s Akie Iwai (71), Angel Yin (71) and Jing Yan (75) are all at 1 underneath, sharing seventh place.
Japan’s Nasa Hataoka, who was tied atop the leaderboard with Coughlin and Yamashita following the primary spherical, stumbled to a 78 and is tied for fifteenth at 1 over.
The inaugural Aramco Championship, co-sanctioned by the LPGA and Ladies European Tour, contains a purse of $4 million and replaces the T-Mobile Match Play on the schedule.
Coughlin’s spherical featured six birdies and three bogeys. After a bogey at No. 6, Coughlin started a run that featured 4 birdies and two pars.
‘From there I sort of began to play actually, actually good,’ she mentioned. It was actually troublesome on the market. The wind was sort of swirling at occasions and lots of crosswinds, is it hurting or serving to. Very troublesome. The greens firmed up as they do within the afternoon, particularly with the wind.’
Coughlin recorded each of her LPGA Tour wins in 2024. She presently has the biggest lead of her profession after any spherical since her victory on the Women’s Scottish Open two years in the past.
‘There is lots of golf to be performed. As you may see, you may make massive numbers actually simply. So simply attempt to keep on with what I’ve been doing the final two days and see what occurs.’
Maguire had three birdies and three bogeys on the day earlier than she birdied the par-5 18th gap.
‘Going out, I believe we knew it was going to be robust,’ Maguire mentioned. ‘Obviously so much windier, completely different wind than we acquired all week as nicely, which made some holes play fairly a bit longer. We knew we have been going to get the firmer finish of the greens this afternoon, so only a case of staying extraordinarily affected person.’
Kim logged a double bogey on the par-4 sixth gap in an up-and-down spherical that started and ended with a birdie.
–Field Level Media