For the third time this season, Sei Young Kim holds the lead of a LPGA Tour event after 36 holes of play.

A stark contrast to yesterday's round, Kim recorded just three birdies and a bogey in her second round of play. Through the first 15 holes of her round, the only action on Kim’s scorecard was a birdie on No. 5 to push her lead to three strokes at the time. No. 16 would be the next hole the 12-time Tour winner added any sort of mark to her card, adding just her second bogey of the week on the last par-3 of the course. Trailing at this point in the round, Kim had work to do to stay near or take back over the top spot and she did just that with back-to-back birdies to retake the solo lead. Her second round saw another record being set for the Buick LPGA Shanghai, setting the new 36-hole scoring record with a 132 , beating the previous record by one stroke, first set by Brooke Henderson in 2019.

“I mean, it wasn't like yesterday,” Kim said about her round. “Kind of a little struggle with my putting, but trying to keep the -- to make the birdie but I wasn't able to couple par-5. But, yeah, I tried to -- I made last two holes strong finish. I'm very happy with that. So, yeah, I'll practice a little bit and looking forward to next two days.”

Behind her sit a pair of rising players on the LPGA Tour, both looking to capture their first career victory. American Lucy Li began her day third on the leaderboard and thanks to a bogey on the first hole, looked like her hot play may have begun to go cold. Just one birdie on the front nine got Li back to 7-under, where she began her day. Her back nine told a different story, recording five birdies in her final nine holes to propel herself towards the top, even taking the solo lead at one point at 12-under. Another bogey on No. 18 dropped the 2023 Tour rookie down to a tie for second place but still in prime position.

“Yeah, I got off to a little bit of a slow start on the front nine. I was hitting it good but the putts just weren't going in,” Li said about her round. “So it was nice to get a putt to fall on 10. That was a pretty tough putt. Then hitting some good shots and putts coming in. A little tough putt there on 18 but otherwise I feel pretty good with how I played today. Yeah, so I wasn't hitting my driver that well today. Kind of got it under control a little bit and hit the fairway I needed to hit. But I hit it good out of the rough. Just my irons were good, wedges were good and that really saved me.”

Louise Suggs Rookie of the Year points leader Mao Saigo had a much-improved day, recording the lowest round of the day at 7-under. Eight birdies and a bogey helped the 2024 rookie jump from a tie for 15th into a tie for second with Li as play heads into the weekend. Aussie Minjee Lee leapt to solo-fourth thanks to a solid 5-under round and American Yealimi Noh finds herself in solo-fifth thanks to a 5-under round as well. Defending champion Angel Yin is right in the mix at T6 and hometown favorite Ruoning Yin and CLPGA Tour member Haruka Morita are both in the running for the lowest player from the People’s Republic of China in a tie for sixth as well.

Sei Young Kim Holds Lead After Second Round of Buick LPGA Shanghai

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