Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikul and Germany’s Polly Mack each birdied the final hole on Friday to share the lead after the second round of the Lotte Championship in Honolulu.
Both shot 7-under-par 65 at Hoakalei Country Club, leaving them at 12-under 132. One stroke behind are Italy’s Carolina Melgrati, who shot a 65 on Friday, and South Korea’s Ina Yoon, who posted a second-round 67.
China’s Michelle Zhang (67 on Friday) and first-round leader A Lim Kim of South Korea (69) share fifth place at 10 under. Two Japanese players, Nasa Hataoka (65) and Miyu Yamashita (67) are tied for seventh at 9 under.
Thitikul logged four birdies on the front nine and three on the back nine to complete her second consecutive bogey-free round.
“I don’t even know how I can do it out there,” Thitikul said of avoiding error. “I mean, like definitely I hit more (greens on Friday).
“But obviously I do have some ups and downs (that are) not quite easy. … Just lucky like momentum-wise that I’m not (falling) off (after) 36 holes.”
As for the way she ended the round, by sinking a mid-range birdie putt, Thitikul said, “Finishing with a birdie, it’s a sweet dream coming in the night.”
Mack, one of the last players on the course, also has yet to make a bogey through the first half of the tournament. Like Thitikul, she posted four birdies before the turn on Friday and three the rest of the way.
Melgrati closed the day with three consecutive birdies (on the front nine), capping a round that included eight birdies and a bogey at par-4 14th hole. The 24-year-old LPGA Tour rookie has finished in the top 30 in just one of her 14 previous events this year, a tie for ninth at the Riviera Maya Open at Mayakoba in April.
“I was just trying to have fun on the course,” she said of her strong second round. “It’s Hawaii and it’s pretty good to play a tournament here, so I was just trying to enjoy the round, and, I mean, hit shots without fear. That kind of works out when it’s a nice calm environment, so that was nice.”
Yoon was able to overcome a triple-bogey 7 on the third hole as she produced eight birdies and had no other missteps on the day.
“At the time it was really hard to control (my emotions),” Yoon said of her reaction to the triple bogey. “Like, I was so mad at myself. But (my caddie) helped me to get back to normal, and (I) put a lot of effort to just move on.
“So I think that helped a lot. Yeah, thankfully made many birdies after that. My shot was great today, so, yeah, I’m pretty happy about it.”
Defending champion Youmin Hwang of South Korea recovered from an opening round 72 by shooting 66 on Friday, leaving her tied for 22nd.
