People’s Republic of China native Yu Liu backed up her first-round 4-under 68 with a 5-under 67 on day two of the Buick LPGA Shanghai, carding one bogey and six birdies to sit in a tie for second alongside defending champion Danielle Kang heading into the weekend. She got off to a quick start at Qizhong Garden Golf Club, grabbing a birdie on the par-4 3rd hole to move to 5-under overall, but cooled slightly on the front nine, making four pars and a bogey on No. 8 to drop back to 4-under.
She quickly cleaned up her mistake with a birdie on the par-5 9th hole to turn in 35, and after a par on 10, Liu got on a hot streak, making four consecutive birdies from holes 11 to 14 to move to 9-under, parring in to post a Friday 67. It’s the first time that the 27-year-old has opened with two rounds in the 60s since the Dana Open in July, and it’s the ninth time in her career that Liu has carded a 36-hole total of 135 or better in the first two rounds. She last did so at the 2022 ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican when she recorded a two-day total of 134 in the first and second rounds.
Liu was happy to fire another round in the 60s on Friday, but she didn’t feel like she had to work too hard to do so, focusing more on enjoying the experience of playing in her home country than the final result. “To be honest, I feel like today I was able to just carry the momentum from yesterday,” said Liu, who hit 10 of 14 fairways and 15 of 18 greens. “The nerves settled starting from yesterday. Today is more about enjoying playing with two of my good friends and in front of my home crowd.
“Pretty low expectations coming in because I'm not good at playing in the rain, so I knew the forecast was pretty much going to rain all throughout the round, which it did. My goal today was just to get through the round without making too much damage. I feel like I did a pretty good job.”
This is Liu’s 21st event of the 2023 LPGA Tour season, and in her 20 previous starts, she has missed six cuts and has earned two top-10 finishes, tying for second at the LOTTE Championship presented by Hoakalei and tying for ninth at the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational. She entered the week ranked 54th in the Race to the CME Globe, six shots inside the top-60 cutoff for the CME Group Tour Championship, but still very much on the bubble with a handful of events left through which to qualify.
A solid finish this week would move her well inside the top 60, earning Liu a spot in the season-ending event with just four regular-season tournaments remaining on the schedule. So far this week, she’s off to a hot start, and considering that she finished T9 at the 2018 Buick LPGA Shanghai and T3 in the 2019 edition of the event, it seems that Liu is primed for a solid weekend in her home country, 36 holes that could see her become the season’s 12th Rolex First-Time Winner and third player from the People’s Republic of China to win on the LPGA Tour.
But Liu isn’t getting too far ahead of herself. There’s still plenty of golf left to play, and she’s just happy to have a sniff at her first LPGA Tour victory, relishing the opportunity to be in contention, somewhere she wasn’t sure if she’d be able to play her way back to this time last season.
“It's definitely a confidence booster knowing that I'm capable of this because, to be honest, a year ago today, there was a lot of doubts on myself, like whether I'm ever going to be able to be in contention and winning a tournament, winning out here,” Liu said. “So, to be where I am today definitely really happy about the progress that I've made.
“To be honest, (I don’t feel comfortable). With golf, it's a game that requires a lot of constant focus. It can bite you pretty hard if you get too relaxed on things. I'm just going to keep my head down and see where I can go.”
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