With yesterday’s rain out of the forecast, the first round resumed play at 8:29 a.m. local with Australia’s Minjee Lee holding firm atop the leaderboard at 5-under. For round two, mother nature threw another hurdle at those in the ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open field: wind.
Taking her time to adjust to the new windy conditions, Lee recorded pars on her first seven holes of the round. It would not be until her last two holes of the back that she began to get into her usual groove, carding back-to-back birdies on her way to the front-nine holes. Coming out of the turn, she added another pair of back-to-back birdies on Nos. 2 and 3. She would add just one bogey on the par-4 7th to hold just a two-stroke lead over her next closest competitor at her time of finish.
“I feel like I was playing really solid,” Lee said about her second round. “It was really windy out there, even more so than yesterday afternoon. Yeah, I feel like I just put myself in good positions when I made my birdies, and you know, try to make the least amount of bogeys as possible. So yeah, I think I'm doing pretty good out there.”
American Megan Khang copied her first-round performance and put together another 4-under 68. She turned in six birdies on the day with just two bogeys to keep her from edging out Lee atop the leaderboard. She recorded another chip-in, her second of the week, on the par-5 3rd to help her position herself alongside Lee at the front of the field.
“Honestly I'm really trying to have a lot of fun out there,” Khang said about battling through the windy conditions. “It's not often I'm hitting a 7-iron to a 116 pin. So it's a lot of the stuff I'm really comfortable with how my ball-striking is. Fortunately I've been able to hit some good shots and really trust myself out there and make some long putts here and there but overall really trying to enjoy it and make the most of it because it's tough for.”
Three players are just two shots back of the two leaders including LPGA Tour winner Charley Hull, who ended her first round T10. Hull recorded six birdies, an eagle on No. 18 and four bogeys during her second round. CPKC Women’s Open winner Lauren Coughlin is also threatening, looking to earn her fourth-straight top-10 finish. She put together a bogey-free round with three birdies. Olympic gold medalist Lydia Ko once again finds herself near the top of the leaderboard after recording four birdies and a bogey, turning in back-to-back 69s.
Ten players round out the top-10 including Olympic silver medalist Esther Henseleit (T6), while defending champion Celine Boutier is currently T54 at 4-over. All the Scots in the field will miss the cut as well.
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