HAINAN ISLAND, China — Mi-hyang Lee performed bogey-free in windy circumstances on Friday, posting a 6-under 66 and holding a one-stroke lead on the Blue Bay LPGA because the Korean chases his first LPGA title in additional than eight years heading into the weekend.
Though the wind was not as sturdy as Lee confronted within the opening spherical, Lee managed to maintain a clear card with birdies on three of the 4 par-5s at Jiang Lake Blue Bay.
Li edged former Duke College participant Liu Yu, 66, by one stroke, who’s trying to be a part of Xiangshan Feng as the one Chinese language gamers to win at Blue Bay for the reason that event started in 2014.
American Auston Kim, who got here from tied for third in Singapore final week, shot a 68 with an eagle on the par-5 eighth gap. She got here inside two strokes.
Lee, who scored an 11-under 133, stated, “The wind was blowing greater than I anticipated this morning, but it surely was nonetheless higher than yesterday afternoon.The wind path was about the identical, so it wasn’t that tough.”
The important thing for Lee was the undulating greens. She centered on hitting the fitting part of the inexperienced to make placing and chipping simpler, quite than placing instantly off the inexperienced to journey up the slope.
“That is why I am getting a whole lot of birdies with no bogeys,” she stated.
The contours of the greens had been complicated, and Kim discovered it irritating at instances alongside the best way. A few of my method photographs bounced unexpectedly, sending me removed from the cup or away from difficult putts for par.
After a robust begin with an eagle on the eighth, he made his solely bogey on the ninth and needed to accept pars from then on till he made a birdie on the par-5 18th. Nonetheless, she was in competition for the second consecutive week for an opportunity to win her first LPGA title.
“I am feeling good about my recreation heading into tomorrow and heading into the weekend. I do know I am in management and it is good to chase,” Kim stated. “It is enjoyable right here.”
Former Girls’s PGA Champion Luoning Ying (China) hit an 8-iron from 153 yards on the par-3 seventh gap, the sixteenth gap of the spherical, for her first hole-in-one on the LPGA Tour this 12 months. On the midway mark, she is six strokes behind.
The Blue Bay LPGA rounds out the three tournaments round Asia because the LPGA with the weakest subject of the three tournaments. This follows every week wherein 9 of the highest 10 ladies’s world rankings had been held in Singapore, with Nelly Korda the one Asian lacking once more.
