MEGAN Khang joined Australian Minjee Lee atop the 36-hole leaderboard at the ISPS Handa Women's Scottish Open on Friday as a handful of players began to break from the pack in Ayrshire, Scotland.
Khang shot her second straight round of 68 and Lee posted a 69 to get to 8-under 136. They have a two-stroke lead over Lauren Coughlin (69), New Zealand's Lydia Ko (69) and Englishwoman Charley Hull (68).
No other player is lower than 3 under for the tournament (Germany's Esther Henseleit and China's Mary Liu).
Khang, a 26-year-old from Massachusetts, has just one LPGA win to her name but entered the week No. 27 in points for the season-long Race to the CME Globe. Khang put up six birdies and two bogeys at Dundonald Links Friday.
That included a chip-in birdie for the second straight day. Friday's came at the par-5 third hole, as Khang helpfully put some backspin on her ball that sent it straight into the cup.
"I was in the mindset of, 'Let's try to hit it close and make par,'" Khang said. "Again, you know, hit a really good chip and kind of bounced back and spun a little back into the hole.
So stuff like that kind of helps you kind of stay within yourself and not get too frustrated out there. Even though you hit a good tee shot and may not get the bounce you want, you can always hole out from anywhere, I guess."
Lee began on the back nine and had her big stretch midway through her round, making all four of her birdies between Nos. 17 and 3.
"I would love to win and that is what we strive for as players," Lee said. "But you know, I'm just going to do what I can control, and obviously I can't control what other people are doing. I'll just try my very best, and if that happens to be a win, that's great. But if it doesn't, it's also part of my process, too."
The tie for third features two players in the top six of the CME Globe standings. Coughlin is fifth in points after she earned her first career LPGA win last month at the CPKC Women's Open. She had a bogey-free round Friday after making pars for her entire first nine (the back nine).
"I felt just obviously amazing after the win," Coughlin said. "But I feel like I still want to do it again and so I'm thinking about bigger goals and honestly just feeling super grateful and just trying to keep doing what I'm doing and obviously it was working. So I'm just not really changing anything."
Ko, who won in January before picking up the gold medal at the Olympics last week, is sixth in CME Globe points. She shot her second straight 69 by making four birdies to just one bogey.
"It's a lot of creativity is required when the wind is this much because I have to hit a 3-wood from 175 (yards), which is normally a 5-iron distance," Ko said. "I think it's kind of out of the ordinary situations, but you just have to adjust to the situations really quick."
Hull's card was much busier than her counterparts. She eagled the par-5 18th (her ninth hole of the day) to go with six birdies and four bogeys.
Notables to miss the cut of 4 over par included Ally Ewing (6 over), Moriya Jutanugarn of Thailand (6 over) and Maja Stark of Sweden (7 over). — REUTERS