Ariya Jutanugarn yesterday posted a two-under-par 71 in the second round to share the lead at the Women’s Australian Open in Melbourne.
The 19-year-old LPGA Tour rookie, who was a stroke off the pace after the opening round, made one eagle, two birdies and two bogeys at Royal Melbourne Golf Club.
The Thai shared the lead with world No.1 Lydia Ko of New Zealand (70) and Jang Ha-Na of South Korea (69) on 140.
England’s Charley Hull (71) was fourth on 142 while American Jessica Korda (71) and South Korea’s Amy Yang (70) were tied for fifth on 143.
Bidding to become the first Thai to win on the LPGA Tour, world No.60 Ariya said that she was happy with her round because the course was really difficult.
She started her round with two bogeys at the first and sixth holes but made the turn at 36 after a birdie at the ninth.
She then made a long eagle putt at the 10th and a birdie at the 14th.
“The fairways are quite narrow and it is difficult to tee off with a driver,” said Ariya, a runner-up at the Bahamas LPGA Classic two weeks ago.
“The greens are hard to place the ball at the right spot.”
She added in the third round, she would stick to the same game plan by keeping the ball in fairways.
Ariya also finished second at the 2013 Honda LPGA Thailand when she blew a two-shot lead with one hole to play to lose to South Korea’s Park In-Bee.
Newly crowned world No.1 Ko shot a second straight 70.
After parring the first nine holes, the 17-year-old had a far more adventurous back nine that featured an eagle, three birdies and two bogeys.
Ko was furious with herself after only taking a par at the 14th, which she eagled the previous day, but made amends when she eagled the par-four 15th, holing out with a nine-iron from 136 yards.
“That anger led me to hit an aggressive drive on the 15th,” Ko said.
“I was so upset from the hole before that I gambled. A little bit of anger is good because it lets the steam out, whereas sometimes I’ve had experiences where I’ve kept it in and it’s definitely not helped me.”
Overnight leader South Korea’s Lee Il-Hee fired an 82 in her second round to only scrape in one shot inside the five-over-par cut line.
Australian veteran Karrie Webb battled to make the cut.
The world No.9 made a par at the last to shore up her weekend berth, although she is 11 shots from the lead and with her title defence in doubt.
“At this stage I’m not thinking about a result. I’m thinking about bringing on to the course what I’m doing in practice,” Webb said.
The cut line was 151 and Ariya is the only Thai to reach the weekend rounds. Her older sister Moriya carded a 77 for 154 while Thidapa Suwannapura posted a 79 for 157.
Also missed the cut were past winners Tseng Yani of Taiwan and Britain’s Laura Davies.
The Melbourne tournament is the third LPGA event of the year. The fourth, the Honda LPGA Thailand, will be held in Pattaya next week.