IRVING, TEXAS — Thailand's Moriya Jutanugarn fired a 66 to jump into contention at the LPGA North Texas Shootout on Friday.
Thailand's Moriya Jutanugarn plays a shot on her way to a five-under par second round. (AFP Photo)
Moriya's five-under-par second round put her in third place, two strokes behind leader Caroline Masson of Germany, who bogeyed three of her last four holes.
Masson's even-par round of 71 was just good enough for a one-stroke lead over Spain's Carlota Ciganda and kept her two shots ahead of Moriya.
Moriya, 18, is in her first year on the tour, with her best finish to date a tie for fourth in the Women's Australian Open, good for $70,456.
Despite facing light rain early in the day, Moriya managed a bogey-free round that was the best of the day, after a first round that had featured three consecutive bogeys.
The only other Thai player in the tournament, Pornanong Phatlum, finished the second round at 6 over and failed to make the cut. For the year to date on the tour, Pornanong has had two top-10 finishes and earnings of $189,238.
Masson opened the Texas event with a bogey-free 7-under 64 in the first round, so she had some margin for error on Friday. "I don't know what went wrong really," she said. "It was just a few bad shots, but it's good that it's over and then I can just relax now and tomorrow I'll be fine again."
When Masson got to the 15th hole Friday, she was 10 under and had a four-stroke lead. Her advantage dwindled to one in a hurry.
Her drive at the 390-yard 15th went left, but the ball then rolled right across the sloping fairway into the water.
"It just carried down the downslope," she said. "It was not a horrible shot. But that just happens."
After missing the fairway again with her tee shot at the 405-yard 16th for another bogey, Masson managed to save par at the 178-yard 17th after coming up short of the green on her tee shot.
After nearly ideal conditions for the opening round at Las Colinas Country Club, it was mostly cloudy with steady wind in the second round.
Stacy Lewis, the Texas native who has a chance to regain the No. 1 world ranking by finishing in the top five, has some work to do this weekend. She was tied for 36th at even par after a 70.
Ciganda, the 22-year-old Spaniard who plans to play in Europe next month after six LPGA events, overcame consecutive bogeys midway through her second round.
Those bogeys at the eighth and ninth holes were her only hiccups, though her 32 putts were six more than her opening round and about the only thing different. She only hit four of 13 fairways and 13 of 18 greens for the second day in a row.