The world number one was outshone by Jutanugarn, however, who holed eight birdies in her round of 64, to vault from 9th to 1st at Priddis Greens at 12 under for the tournament.
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The 20-year-old is now No. 2 in the Rolex women’s world golf rankings behind New Zealand’s Lydia Ko and just ahead of Brooke Henderson from Smiths Falls, Ont. Hammering 2-iron and 3-wood off the tee, Jutanugarn hit all 14 fairways in the second round. “After that, I feel like just play golf”.
The 19-year-old from Auckland’s North Shore reacts to a putt on the sixth green during her second round at the Priddis Greens Golf and Country Club. She finished her first round earlier in the day at even par.
Lee, Sharp, Leblanc and Brooke Henderson – who sits at four under par after a second-round 68 that included a double-bogey on her penultimate hole – have their work cut out for them considering the aforementioned duo on top.
“Honestly, I don’t think it suits my game because it’s a little narrow and I can’t hit my driver”, Jutanugarn said of the 6,622-yard tournament track just west of Calgary.
The 24-year-old, ranked 419 in the world, carded an impressive first-round 66 and put in another good round, sinking six birdies and three bogeys in her three-under-par 69.
“It’s always good to see the Canadian flag on the leaderboard no matter where we are, but definitely this week”, Sharp said. “So I feel like this one I’ve got to make sure it’s on the fairway so it’s good enough for me”. “Hopefully we can continue it on the weekend”.
“I don’t think I’ll change my gameplan”, Ko said.
Alker shot a four-under par 67 in the second round to be four-under for the tournament, two shots above the cut-line, while Geary backed up a opening round two-over 73 with a one-over 72 to finish at three-over. “My goal is top three this week, so I can try”.
Ariya enters the third round of the LPGA tournament three strokes ahead of In Gee-chun of Korea and Stephanie Meadow of Northern Ireland.
Ko appeared to be building a head of steam with four birdies in a row between the ninth and 12th holes to move to nine under.
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The South Korean-born Kiwi is back on the LPGA tour four days after her silver medal-winning performance for New Zealand at Rio. “There’s still a lot of golf to be played”. “Right now I feel like I’m playing solid, so it’s a good position going into the weekend”.
