Australia’s Sarah Jane Smith on Friday had five birdies in a four-under-par 68 to take a two-stroke lead at the halfway point of the Lorena Ochoa Invitational.
Smith, in search of her first LPGA tour title, shared the overnight lead with Spain’s Carlota Ciganda and went into the weekend with a nine-under 135 total, two shots in front of Mexico’s Gaby Lopez, South Korea’s Hur Mi-jung and Colombia’s Mariajo Uribe.
“I feel a little bit nervous to be honest,” said Smith, who has never taken the lead into the weekend before.
“So even a couple times today I was a little nervous, but I was happy with the way that I handled it,” she added.
“Hopefully I can just keep doing what I have been doing and see what happens,” Smith said.
Lopez, playing on her home course at Mexico City’s Club de Golf Mexico, fired a second-round 65 that included an eagle at the par-five second hole, where she stuck her 195-yard second shot two feet from the pin.
“It is one of those numbers when you know you have the number perfect, its just a matter of the swing, adjusting your swing,” said Lopez, who also had six birdies and one bogey.
Uribe had five birdies without a bogey in her 67.
“I just stayed patient today. Yesterday I did some stupid mistakes that cost me some bogeys, but I went bogey-free today and took advantage of the par-fives,” Uribe said.
Hur, a two-time LPGA Tour winner, carded a 66 to climb up the leaderboard. She is trying to break through for her first win of the year, after runner-up finishes at the Volunteers of America Texas Shootout and Reignwood LPGA Classic.
Smith’s best finish of the season was also at the Reignwood, where she tied for 12th.
The tournament is the penultimate event of the LPGA season and the last chance for players to qualify for next week’s LPGA Tour Championship in Naples, Florida.
Canadian teenager Brooke Henderson is the highest-ranked player in the field at seventh in the world. Henderson rebounded slightly from her two-over first round with a 71 on Friday that left her 10 shots off the pace.
Kaohsiung-born Candie Kung of the US tied for 13th on a three-under 141 total.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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