(Photo credit score: Dan Hamilton-Imagn Images)
Minami Katsu carded a course-record 11-under 61 on Friday to grab a two-stroke lead after the second spherical on the Buick LPGA Shanghai occasion.
Katsu moved to 13-under after gathering 12 birdies in opposition to one bogey on the Qizhong Garden Golf Club. The 27-year-old Japanese golfer capped her scintillating spherical in fashion by rolling in a 39-foot birdie putt on No, 18.
‘Yeah, that was a tough putt. I hit it too arduous and I used to be like, ‘Oh, boy. Why did I hit that so arduous?” Katsu mentioned of her ending putt. ‘Luckily it was going towards the outlet, so I hoped hit the again fringe of the cup and simply popped up a pair inches and went proper into the outlet. So felt like I used to be actually fortunate.’
Lucky or not, Katsu is aware of there are 36 extra holes to play.
‘Honestly I’m very proud of the file that I made right now,’ she mentioned. ‘Obviously we nonetheless received two extra days to play, so most likely no celebration. I’ll attempt to preserve it easy.’
Katsu broke Sei Young Kim’s file set final 12 months by one stroke. She is bidding for her first victory on the LPGA Tour, though she has eight victories on the JLPGA Tour.
She leads South Korean Ina Yoon, who resides in second place at 11-under after recording a 68 on Friday.
Yoon overcame a bogey on her first gap by recording 5 birdies over the course of her spherical.
Jenny Bae (69), who’s tied with Lindy Duncan (67) for third place at 10-uinder, was in competition for the lead earlier than hitting right into a bunker on the 18th gap. A shot into the water in the end led to a triple bogey.
First-round chief Arpichaya Yubol (71) is in a tie for fifth place at 9-under with fellow Thailand native Jeeno Thitikul (70) and South Korean Somi Lee (67).
‘Because LPGA is so powerful, arduous competitors, the drills I do is like the space inside 100 meters,’ Lee mentioned. ‘If I’ve an opportunity inside 100 meters I need to get a birdie so that is what I’m targeted on and I attempt to do it each day with out skipping a single day.’
Defending champion Ruoning Yin of China shot a 68 on Thursday to maneuver right into a tie for twenty second place at 5-under.
Wei-Ling Hsu of Chinese Taipei highlighted her spherical of 68 with a hole-in-one on the par-3 second maintain. She used a 7-iron.
–Field Level Media