Japan’s Ayaka Furue avoided bogeys while carding a 5-under 67 on Friday to hold a one-shot lead after two rounds of the Meijer LPGA Classic at Belmont, Mich.
Furue sank five birdies at Blythefield Country Club and sits at 11-under 133 at the midway point.
Ireland’s Leona Maguire (65 on Friday), Spain’s Carlota Ciganda (66) and South Korea’s Amy Yang (67) and Hyo Joo Kim (65) are all one shot back.
Furue, 23, is making a run at her second career LGPA title. She made birdies at Nos. 11 and 18 during her first nine holes before sinking three more the rest of the way.
Furue hit 16 of 18 greens during a 30-putt round.
“I think my shots and putting was really good,” Furue said. “So, yeah, that worked for me today.”
Maguire’s 65 tied for her lowest round of the season. He 54 putts through 36 holes is lowest in the field.
Maguire finished her round in style by recording an eagle on No. 18, a par-5.
“Hitting the fairway on 18 is key,” Maguire said. “The way the wind is blowing out of the left is quite hard. I can’t carry that bunker, so it’s hard for me to hit the fairway.”
Prior to the eagle, Maguire made four straight birdies from Nos. 12 to 15. Overall, she had seven birdies and two bogeys.
Ciganda scored two eagles on par-5 holes — at No. 4 and 8. She also had three birdies and one bogey while recording her lowest 36-hole score of the season.
Ciganda said she feels comfortable on the course.
“It’s a fun week for me. It reminds me a lot of home, of Spain where I live,” Ciganda said. “Very peaceful, very green, lots of trees. We have great housing this week that I really enjoy. It’s just a fun week, and I always have a great time.”
Yang made five birdies in a bogey-free round. Four of them came during a six-round stretch on her back nine.
“I’ve been placing my balls right on the right path, like correct side of the fairway, and that gave me a good chance to go for the pins,” Yang said.
Kim had eight birdies and one bogey during her solid round.
“There is a lot of short par-5s, so I think a lot of them are trying to get on the green in two,” Kim said. “As a result there is a lot of low scores. I guess everyone’s putter is hot, as is mine, so I think that led to a good score this week.”
Six golfers are tied for sixth place, two shots off the lead.
Belgium’s Manon De Roey’s 65 was the best score of that group. Also part of that tie are Lindsey Weaver-Wright (69) and Jennifer Kupcho (69), Bangalore’s Aditi Ashok (67), Australia’s Minjee Lee (67) and Sweden’s Emily Kristine Pedersen (68).
Among the players to miss the cut of 2-under were Lexi Thompson (74, 1-under 143) and New Zealand’s Lydia Ko (72, even-par 144).
–Field Level Media
