World No 1 Nelly Korda shot a second-round 81 to overlook the lower on the PGA Championship by one shot.
A stroke behind first-round chief Lexi Thompson after a gap 3-under 69, Korda bogeyed the primary 4 holes and likewise dropped strokes on six and 9 to document a front-nine 42.
The 25-year-old continued to wrestle on the again 9, bogeying holes 11 and 14 earlier than a double bogey on the 15. She made her lone birdie of the day on 18 to complete six over par.
Korda additionally missed the cuts within the US Girls’s Open – opening with an 80 – and the Meijer LPGA Traditional in her final two begins after profitable six of seven occasions, a run that began with a record-tying 5 straight victories.
“It’s just golf recently for me,” Korda mentioned. “No words for how I am playing right now. I’m just going to go home and try to reset.”
Whereas Korda struggled within the heat afternoon situations that sped up tree-lined Sahalee Nation Membership, Sarah Schmelzel and Amy Yang shared the lead at 6-under 136. Schmelzel had a 67 within the morning, and Yang shot 68 within the afternoon.
Sarah Schmelzel has but to win a event on the LPGA tour
Schmelzel, the 30-year-old Arizonan who’s winless in six seasons on the LPGA Tour, made a 10-foot birdie putt on the par-3 seventeenth gap and stayed aggressive on the par-5 18th, knocking her 3-wood wanting the inexperienced and chipping to a foot for a tap-in birdie and the low spherical of the championship.
“Just staying really patient out there and aggressive off the tee was kind of our game plan this week,” Schmelzel mentioned. “I drove (the ball) really well, so fortunately able to take advantage of having some shorter irons in today.”
Yang is looking for her first main title. Coping with a again concern, she had the one bogey-free spherical of the event.
The five-time LPGA winner had no bother with the firmness of the poa annua greens within the afternoon, efficiently scrambling for par in all eight makes an attempt. She hit her 97-yard third shot on 18 to a foot to arrange a birdie.
“Fairways are so tight,” Yang mentioned. “It’s very challenging out there.”
Lexi Thompson is to retire from skilled golf
Thompson (72) was two strokes again with fellow main champions Jin Younger Ko (68), and Hinako Shibuno (70).
Beginning on the again 9, Thompson turned in 3 below 33 to achieve 7 below, however made a double bogey on the par-5 second gap. Her second shot missed left, forcing a punch-out, and he or she three-putted for a 7. Thompson dropped one other shot on the par-4 fourth.
The 29-year-old Thompson, who not too long ago introduced this season will likely be her final taking part in a full schedule, misplaced a playoff final week on the Meijer LPGA Traditional. She hasn’t received on the LPGA Tour since June 2019.
“You’re going to hit some bad shots, maybe get penalized by the trees,” Thompson mentioned. “You just have to take your medicine with either pitching out or getting back into position.”
Hae Ran Ryu matched the low spherical of the event with a 67 to get to three below with Miyu Yamashita (70) and Leona Maguire (71),
“The Course is firming up a lot,” Maguire mentioned. “It’s dried out quite a bit.”
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Leona Maguire and Charley Hull spoke after the primary spherical
Brooke Henderson, who received the Girls’s PGA the earlier time it was performed at Sahalee in 2016, shot 72 and was 1 over.
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