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 report 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 Ladies’s Open – opening with an 80 – and the Meijer LPGA Traditional in her final two begins after successful six of seven occasions, a run that began with a record-tying 5 straight victories.
“It’s just golf recently for me,” Korda stated. “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 circumstances 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 stated. “I drove (the ball) really well, so fortunately able to take advantage of having some shorter irons in today.”
Yang is trying to find her first main title. Coping with a again situation, 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 stated. “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 beneath 33 to succeed in 7 beneath, however made a double bogey on the par-5 second gap. Her second shot missed left, forcing a punch-out, and she or he three-putted for a 7. Thompson dropped one other shot on the par-4 fourth.
The 29-year-old Thompson, who just lately introduced this season will probably be her final enjoying a full schedule, misplaced a playoff final week on the Meijer LPGA Traditional. She hasn’t gained on the LPGA Tour since June 2019.
“You’re going to hit some bad shots, maybe get penalized by the trees,” Thompson stated. “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 beneath with Miyu Yamashita (70) and Leona Maguire (71),
“The Course is firming up a lot,” Maguire stated. “It’s dried out quite a bit.”
Please use Chrome browser for a extra accessible video participant
Leona Maguire and Charley Hull spoke after the primary spherical
Brooke Henderson, who gained the Ladies’s PGA the earlier time it was performed at Sahalee in 2016, shot 72 and was 1 over.
Get one of the best costs and e book a spherical at considered one of 1,700 programs throughout the UK & Eire
