Amy Yang shot a 4-under 66 on Friday to take the 36-hole lead at the U.S. Women’s Open Championship conducted by the USGA. The 25-year old from South Korea leads Rolex Rankings No. 3 Stacy Lewis (67) and Shiho Oyama (66) of Japan by three shots and sits atop the leaderboard at 7-under par. First-round co-leader Marina Alex (71) is in solo fourth at 3-under par and four shots back. Yang and Oyama tied for low round of the day. Yang’s two day total of 133 is the second-lowest 36-hole score in U.S. Women’s Open history.
Yang separated herself from the pack on the back nine with a stretch of four-consecutive birdies on Nos. 11-14. She hit 15 greens in regulation on Friday and missed only two fairways.
“I'm hitting it very solid throughout the week,” said Yang. “And it's important to keep the ball on the fairway, especially this big, long rough. And I had good fairway regulation yesterday and today. Yeah, just mostly my swing was really good.”
It will be the first time in Yang’s career to hold the 36-hole lead at a major. She’s had a great record at this championship in the recent past and has recorded four top-10 finishes in her last five appearances.
“I just enjoy it out here,” said Yang. “And I know the golf courses are very tough. And make sure I be patient on the course. Just enjoy the tough condition golf courses.”
Stacy Lewis trailed Yang by just two shots heading to the 9th hole, her last of the day, but failed to get up-and-down from the greenside bunker to drop her to 4-under par. She said pushing her second shot will be the mistake she’ll lose sleep over.
“Then at 9 that miss has got to be left all day,” said Lewis. “More than anything that's what I'm kicking myself about.”
Lewis is seeking her third-career major championship and first U.S. Women’s Open title. The 30-year old said her confidence is riding high and that her iron play was crucial on Friday. She hit 16 of 18 greens in regulation and ranks tied for fifth in the field through two rounds.
“It's been a really long time since I felt that way over the ball,” said Lewis. “Just disappointed with the hybrids coming in. Other than those two swings on 8 and 9, everything was right where it needed to be. It's nice when you are tapping in a couple 5-irons. All in all, pretty solid.”
Defending champion Michelle Wie improved from her first-round 72 with a 2-under 68 and jumped up the leaderboard into a tie for 12th at even-par.
“It went pretty well,” said Wie. “I'm pretty happy with how my round went, a lot better than yesterday. Kind of felt good that I kind of fixed what went wrong yesterday. I hit a lot more fairways today and my irons were a little bit sharper than yesterday. I just have to keep on improving what I improved on today.”
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