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 in addition dropped strokes on six and 9 to report a front-nine 42.
The 25-year-old continued to battle 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 is simply golf lately for me,” Korda mentioned. “No phrases for the way I’m enjoying proper now. I am simply going to go dwelling and attempt 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.
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.
“Simply staying actually affected person on the market and aggressive off the tee was sort of our recreation plan this week,” Schmelzel mentioned. “I drove (the ball) rather well, so luckily capable of reap the benefits of having some shorter irons in as we speak.”
Yang is looking for her first main title. Coping with a again difficulty, she had the one bogey-free spherical of the match.
The five-time LPGA winner had no hassle 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 is very difficult on the market.”
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 achieve 7 beneath, 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 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 are going to hit some dangerous photographs, perhaps get penalized by the bushes,” Thompson mentioned. “You simply should take your medication with both pitching out or getting again into place.”
Hae Ran Ryu matched the low spherical of the match with a 67 to get to three beneath with Miyu Yamashita (70) and Leona Maguire (71),
“The Course is firming up loads,” Maguire mentioned. “It is dried out fairly a bit.”
Brooke Henderson, who gained the Ladies’s PGA the earlier time it was performed at Sahalee in 2016, shot 72 and was 1 over.
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