EVIAN-LES-BAINS – In Gee Chun holds the 36-hole lead in a major for the first time on the LPGA Tour.
The world No.7 held a share of the first round lead with Sung Hyun Park, but pulled ahead of the field on Friday at the Evian Championship by matching the low round of the day with a five-under par, 66 to take the lead at the season’s fifth and final major. She leads at 13-under par, two-strokes ahead of Shanshan Feng and Sung Hyun Park.
Chun came from four-strokes back to capture her first win on the LPGA Tour at the 2015 U.S. Women’s Open and with it earned membership for the 2016 season. While she’s come close to winning throughout her rookie season, posting nine top-10 finishes including six top-3’s, she has yet to capture a second win on the LPGA Tour this season. But it’s only a matter of time for the Korean who won eight times in 2015 and claimed Player of the Year Honors on the KLPGA.
“I like pressure. I remember like play before. Always play really good under pressure so just enjoy everything,” Chun said after her round.
Chun has been working on some swing adjustments with her instructor Dr. Won Park, who told LPGA.com she wasn’t transferring her weight forward onto her left foot during her swing. Park says Chun began staying too much back on her right foot through impact beginning in June around the time of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. She hit a low point in July, missing her first and only cut of the year in her title defense at CordeValle at the U.S. Women’s Open. Since then, Chun has worked on shifting her weight forward and when the pair worked together on Wednesday of this week, it was clear Chun was back on track. The Korean hit all 18 greens on Thursday and has made just one bogey this week.
Click here to watch Chun’s post-round interview.
Click here to watch Chun's second round highlights.
The KLPGA’s Park held a share of the overnight lead with Chun and followed her opening round eight-under par, 63 with a 68 on Friday and made it look easy despite the challenge she felt off the tee.
“There is no easy shot here. Tee shots, putting, second shot, everything, so I've got a headache,” Park told the media. “I like a difficult course like this. I like a challenge.”
Park also held the 36-hole lead earlier this summer at the U.S. Women’s Open where she finished T-3 for the week.
Click here to watch Park’s second round highlights.
Feng started Friday’s round one-back of the lead and made a move on day two with a four-under par, 67 to match Park for the early lead on day two. The Olympic bronze medalist was grouped with Park during the first two rounds of the Evian Championship and told LPGA.com she fed off her playing partner as the two traded spots atop the leaderboard throughout the day. The group started their round on the back nine and a two-shot swing at the group’s 10th hole of the day, with a bogey by Park and birdie by Feng, put the two in a tie at 10-under par. Feng followed with a birdie at the next to pull ahead of her playing partner but stumbled with two bogeys coming in to finish the day in a tie at the top.
“I played with her last year in Korea, yeah. I mean, she really surprised me because she looks really skinny, but she hits it really long, like as long as Lexi does,” Feng said about her playing partner. “She's a very, very good player. She's long but accurate. That's really hard to do. And her putting is really good, also. She's a very strong player.”
Click here to watch Feng's post-round interview.
Click here to watch Feng's second round highlights.
So Yeon Ryu is the only remaining player who is bogey-free for the week and she sits at 10-under par heading into the weekend in solo fourth. Angela Stanford is fifth at nine-under par.
The projected cut is at three-over par, sending home several notables including Hall of Famer Laura Davies (+4) reigning U.S. Women’s Open champion Brittany Lang (+5), Christina Kim (+6) and Karrie Webb (+8).
Click here for scores from the second round of the Evian Championship.
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