Two off the lead after Day 1 of the AIG Women’s Open, Haeran Ryu played her first five holes Friday in 3 over par.
If Haeran’s run was over, it was an epic effort.
She entered this week having won two majors in her last three starts and stirred further excitement with an opening 66 at Royal Lytham & St Annes.
A letdown was understandable. But it was just a blip. Ryu rebounded to shoot 2-under 69 to grab the outright lead over Shiho Kuwaki. Ryu stands at 7 under par, one clear of the LPGA Japan Tour’s top-ranked player.
Overnight leader Jeeno Thitikul was nine shots higher in Round 2, shooting 73. She sits at 5 under par alongside Yealimi Noh (70).
Ryu is in prime position to become the fifth player in tour history to win three consecutive major titles. Fellow South Korean Inbee Park was the most recent player to accomplish that feat, doing so in 2013. Pat Bradley did it over two seasons, in 1985-86. Mickey Wright (1961-62) and Babe Zaharias (1950) are the other two.
Things didn’t look good for Ryu early in Round 2 as she bogeyed the par-4 third and doubled the par-3 fifth to fall four off the lead. But the KPMG Women’s PGA and Amundi Evian champ birdied Nos. 7, 9, 10 and 15 to match Kuwaki at 6 under. She stayed there with a nice up and down on the par-4 17th – after missing only her second green of the day – and closed her rally with a 10-foot birdie putt at the last.
“I think I don’t want to focus for on other players. I just think about my golf and the golf course,” Ryu said. “So because a lot of great players in here, so that’s why I just want to think about my golf. Because this is a major; nobody knows what comes up.”
Friday was also a nice bounce back for playing competitor Nelly Korda. After an opening 73, Korda dropped a shot on her third hole of Round 2 before making a lengthy, winding birdie putt at the par-4 fourth.
That sparked a run of four birdies by the turn. She then went bogey-birdie-bogey-birdie to start her back nine, before parring out for a 3-under 68. Korda, who won the season’s first two majors at the Chevron and U.S. Women’s Open, is at 1 under for the championship, six back of Ryu.
“Yeah, 36 in, 36 holes to go. You never know what’s going to happen,” Korda said. “It’s golf. It’s links golf. Just going to try to have the same attitude I had today going into the weekend.”
