Sei Young Kim set the 36-hole scoring record at the Buick LPGA Shanghai but saw her lead shrink to one stroke in the second round on Friday.
The South Korean followed up her sizzling opening round of 10-under 62 with a 70 on Friday to move to 12-under 132. That beat the previous record, set by Brooke Henderson in 2019, by one stroke.
Kim recorded a birdie on No. 5 and then parred the next 10 holes before finishing bogey, birdie, birdie.
“I mean, it wasn’t like yesterday,” Kim said about her round. “Kind of a little struggle with my putting, but trying to keep the — to make the birdie but I wasn’t able to couple par-5. But, yeah, I tried to — I made last two holes strong finish. I’m very happy with that. So, yeah, I’ll practice a little bit and looking forward to next two days.”
Kim has her third 36-hole lead of the season, just one stroke ahead of Japanese rookie Mao Saigo and Lucy Li. Saigo posted the low round of the day with a 7-under 65 to match Li (68 on Friday) at 11-under.
Australia’s Minjee Lee is alone in fourth at 10-under after a second consecutive round of 67 at the Qizhong Garden Golf Club.
Saigo, the current Rookie of the Year points leader, carded eight birdies and a lone bogey at the par-4 10th hole.
“I’m very happy to have the chance to play this year, my rookie year,” she said. “I focus however on what’s ahead of me. Of course, it would be quite an honor to be able to be in the race for Rookie of the Year.”
Li made the turn at even par for her round before an eventful back nine with five birdies and a bogey at No. 18.
“Yeah, I got off to a little bit of a slow start on the front nine. I was hitting it good but the putts just weren’t going in,” Li said. “So it was nice to get a putt to fall on 10. That was a pretty tough putt. Then hitting some good shots and putts coming in. A little tough putt there on 18 but otherwise I feel pretty good with how I played today.”
Yealimi Noh (67) is alone in fifth place at 9-under. Defending champion Angel Yin (69) is another shot back, part of a pack of nine players tied for sixth.
–Field Level Media