Michelle Wie shot her second straight five-under 66 to take a two-shot lead in the suspended second round of the NW Arkansas Championship on Saturday.
Coming off a victory in the US Women’s Open at Pinehurst, Wie had six birdies and a bogey in her morning round at Pinnacle Country Club.
So Yeon-ryu, paired with Wie, was second after her second straight 67.
Photo: AFP
All 72 players in the afternoon session were unable to finish on Saturday because of thunderstorms, with second-round play expected to finish early yesterday before the final round was to begin later that morning.
Suzann Pettersen, Chella Choi and Line Vedel were three strokes back, and top-ranked and local favorite Stacy Lewis was four shots behind at six-under.
Pettersen had a 67, Choi shot 65 and Vedel had five holes left.
Lewis birdied four of her first eight holes and finished with a 12-foot birdie putt on No. 9 for a 67. First-round leader Alena Sharp was four-under overall after 15 holes.
Lewis made the early charge to close within a shot of Sharp. However, for the second straight day, Wie saved her best for the back.
She jumped into contention with a four-under 31 on the back nine on Friday. After teeing off on the back nine on Saturday, she once again closed with a flurry — birdieing four of her final seven holes to shoot a four-under 32 and surge into the lead.
Wie put the finishing touch on her round — and quest for a second straight tournament victory — with a three-foot birdie putt on No. 9.
The performance put the US Women’s Open champion within a round of back-to-back wins for the first time in her LPGA Tour career, not that she showed any signs of stress after reaching 10-under overall.
In fact, shortly after surging into the lead at Pinnacle Country Club, Wie joined PGA Tour pros Rickie Fowler and Keegan Bradley as part of a social media challenge in dumping a bucket of ice water on herself on the driving range.
Taiwan’s Yani Tseng was at three-under 71, while her compatriot Candie Kung was at one-under 70.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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