BATTLE FOR THE TOP SPOT
Rolex Rankings No. 1 Ariya Jutanugarn is in her third week at the top of the world rankings since she ascended to the top after her third win of the 2018 season at the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open.
There could be a change at the top of the rankings following the IWiT Championship – if current co-leader No. 4 Sung Hyun Park picks up her third win of the season this week AND Jutanugarn finishes sixth or worse Park will jump up to No. 1. Rolex Rankings No. 2 So Yeon Ryu also has a chance to reclaim the top spot with a win AND Jutanugarn finishes third or worse. Due to the weather, Ryu did not finish her second round Friday and is currently 3-over par for the round through eight holes.
NO EXPECTATIONS, GOOD RESULTS FOR KANG
The 2018 LPGA season has been full of ups and downs for major champion Danielle Kang. She started the year with two top-five finishes in her first three starts, yet in her next five starts she failed to see the top-30. After a fourth-place finish at the U.S. Women’s Open in June, Kang has finished: WD, CUT, T33, CUT, CUT.
Kang is bogey-free through 36 holes in Indy and has a fresh outlook to thank. “I just have been kind of feeling like I was in a little bit of a funk, so I told my caddie that this week we were just going to pick a number and play my game and forget all the swing thoughts, forget everything, and just kind of play it by my feel.”
JUTANUGARN DRIVES HER WAY UP THE LEADERBOARD
The wide-open fairways at the Brickyard Crossing Golf Club allowed Rolex Rankings No. 1 Ariya Jutanugarn to do something she doesn’t attempt to do every week – hit her driver. Jutanugarn pulled out her rarely used big stick on Friday at the IWiT Championship, and birdied both par-5s on the front nine, while she played them at even par on the back nine.
Jutanugarn hit 3 of 4 fairways on the par-5s Friday, and she leads the field midway through the second-round averaging 283.8 in driving distance.
PLAYER NOTES
Rolex Rankings No. 27 Lizette Salas (T1, -13)
- Salas, 29, is from Azusa, Calif. and played collegiately at the University of Southern California
- Salas’ 36-hole score of 13-under par 131 bests her previous career low by two strokes
- Through 36 holes Salas has hit 27 of 28 fairways, and 30 of 36 greens in regulation
- Salas tied her career-low round on Thursday (-10, 62) and set a new IWiT Championship competitive course record, besting Lexi Thompson’s 9-under par 63 in the first round in 2017
- Salas has one LPGA win (2014 Kingsmill Championship presented by JTBC) and 25 total top-10 finishes in her LPGA career, including three in 2018
- Salas holds at least a share of the second-round lead for the first time since the 2015 Meijer LPGA Classic where she finished T2
- At the 2017 IWiT Championship, Salas finished T5 which kickstarted a run of six straight top-13 finishes
- Salas is a three-time member of the United States Solheim Cup team (2013, 2015, 2017)
Rolex Rankings No. 4 Sung Hyun Park (T1, -13)
- Park, 24, is from Seoul, Republic of Korea
- Park had a bogey-free round with nine birdies to shoot her lowest round of the 2018 season on Friday, one off her career-low
- Park’s 36-hole score of 131 matches her career-low – she shot 131 thru 36 holes during her win at the 2018 Volunteers of America LPGA Texas Classic
- Park has held at least a share of the second-round lead five times in her career, most recently at the 2018 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship where she went on to win
- Park, a four-time LPGA winner and two-time major champion, ranks second on Tour with two wins in 2018
- In 2017, Park became the first player to win Rookie of the Year and Player of the Year awards in the same year since Nancy Lopez in 1978 – she is currently second in the 2018 Rolex Player of the Year standings
Rolex Rankings No. 15 Nasa Hataoka (T3, -11)
- Hataoka, 19, is from Ibaraki, Japan
- Hataoka’s 3-under par 69 on Friday is her 11th round in the 60s since the first-round of the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship where she captured her first LPGA win
- Hataoka tied her career-low 18-hole score to par on Thursday, her third round of -8 this season
- Hataoka became a Rolex First-Time Winner at the 2018 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G
- In 2018, Hataoka has made 14 of 17 cuts and has six top-10 finishes including her win and two runner-ups – she is currently ranked fourth on the 2018 Official Money List with $952,134
- Hataoka will be a member of Team Japan at the 2018 UL International Crown
- Hataoka was the medalist at the 2017 LPGA Final Qualifying Tournament to earn Priority Category 12 for the 2018 LPGA Tour season
Rolex Rankings No. 25 Danielle Kang (T3, -11)
- Kang, 25, is from San Francisco, Calif., resides in Las Vegas, Nev. and played collegiately at Pepperdine University
- Kang’s 36-hole total of 133 is the third lowest of her career
- Kang is 28 of 28 in fairways hit and is bogey-free through two rounds
- Kang has back-to-back rounds in the 60s for the first time since the Kingsmill Championship presented by GEICO in May
- Kang has one LPGA win (2017 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship) and 18 total top-10 finishes in her LPGA career, including four in 2018
- Since finishing fourth at the U.S. Women’s Open in June, Kang has just one made cut - a T33 finish at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship
- In 2017, Kang played in her first Solheim Cup representing Team United States
QUICK HITS
- Second round play was delayed for one hour prior to the start of play on Friday.
- Round two was suspended at 2:32 p.m. due to unplayable course conditions.
- Play resumed at 6:25 p.m. after a delay of 3 hours 53 minutes.
- Play was stopped at 8:22 p.m. due to darkness and is set to resume at 7:45 a.m. Saturday.
- The third round is scheduled to start at approximately 12:00 p.m. in groups of three, off of the 1st and 10th tees, with the median scores starting first and lowest/highest scores starting last.
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