South Korea’s Jin Young Ko had a string of four consecutive birdies, and Japan’s Nasa Hataoka closed her round with three straight birdies on Friday to leave the two tied for first place at the LA Open.
Ko shot a 7-under-par 64 at Wilshire Country Club, leaving her at 7-under 135, level with Hataoka, who carded a 3-under 67 on Friday.
Australia’s Hannah Green is two strokes back at 5 under after a 67 in the second round.
South Korea’s Haeji Kang (second-round 69) and Australia’s Minjee Lee (68) share fourth place at 4 under.
Lizette Salas (70), China’s Yu Liu (68), South Korea’s Inbee Park (67) and Denmark’s Emily Kristine Pedersen (72) are tied for sixth at 3 under.
First-round leader Alison Lee stumbled to a 74 and is tied for 10th at 2 under.
Eighteen players did not complete the second round before play was suspended due to darkness.
Ko, who earned her 13th career LPGA win last month in the HSBC Women’s World Championship, recorded eight birdies and one bogey on Friday. Her big move came with four birdies from No. 11 to No. 14.
“My putting was so good today,” Ko said. “I wasn’t expecting to play really well today because in the afternoon it’s always hard to play this course, but my putting was good, so I’m happy with it.”
Hataoka, a five-time tour winner, started her round on the back nine and had three bogeys and one birdie through six holes. The rest of the way, she had six birdies and one bogey.
“I feel like I have really good momentum right now, so I want to keep that going and play good the next two days,” Hataoka said.
Green enjoyed a bogey-free round, highlighted by a stretch of three birdies in five holes on the back nine.
“I’m very pleased,” Green said. “I guess today’s round kind of felt like even more under par than what it was. I was pretty solid with my putting all day today, which was nice because yesterday I had a couple three-putts. But it was nice to get done in the morning and not have to worry about coming back early tomorrow to finish a round.”
Defending champion Brooke M. Henderson of Canada will miss the cut after following up a 5-over 76 with a 1-over 72.
–Field Level Media
