For the fifth time in her rookie season, Ha Na Jang has the 36-hole lead at the CME Group Tour Championship after a second-round 7-under-par 65. Jang will enter the weekend with a two-shot lead over Lydia Ko and looking for her first career LPGA win after posting three runner-ups already this season. She thought she’d have her first win by now but if she keeps playing like this, it may come in the season’s final event.

“Oh, yes, my first thinking is maybe in the Marathon Classic. I played a playoff with Chella Choi my first time ‑‑ I thought of too much, I want to be champion,” Jang said. “So I don't want to think about being leader. So I just play myself, that’s my thinking to myself, too. I don't want to think about being champion.”

Ko, the world’s No. 1 player, had quite the Friday as well. With a 5-under-par 67, Ko now leads Inbee Park by four shots for the tournament and would win the Vare Trophy, Rolex Player of the Year and money list titles if the tournament ended this way. Ko, the defending champion here, also surged into the lead for the Race to the CME Globe and would win the $1 million prize for the second consecutive year. Ko tries not to pay attention to any of it but she couldn’t help but notice after the first round that she no longer held the top spot in the Race to the CME Globe standings in which she entered with.

“Just watching the coverage when I went back to hotel and the Race placing, too. So it wasn't like intentionally looking,” Ko said. “It's right there, it's not like I got to cover and go ‑‑ but, yeah, my trainer and I always say, hey, better every day. It's what I try and work towards too. If I keep getting better every day, it ends up being a few low scores.”

A year ago Ko trailed by five shots entering the weekend here but used back-to-back 68s on the weekend to get into a playoff and won on the fourth playoff hole. Ko trails by just two this year but was tied with Jang for the lead after posting six birdies in her first 11 holes. Ko’s round hit a snag late when she made a costly double at the par-4 15th and then bogeyed the 16th.

“That was really my first mishit with my driver. I pulled it. I had a pretty good lie in the bunker, slightly downhill lie. I think I played a little too cute,” Ko said of her double. “There was a tree right in my way, and so if I pulled it just an inch it was going straight to the tree. I think I got a little too aggressive. I should have taken my medicine and gone a little bit more right and give myself to make up and down for a par or something. I got a little greedy, so I ended up hitting the tree and then it kind of went in the waste bunker again. Then I chipped out sideways. I thought I hit a pretty decent pitch, but it didn’t run out as much as I thought.”

Nothing seems to bother Ko and that two-hole stretch didn’t seem to either. The unflappable 18-year old was particularly Ko-like to close with back-to-back birdies and get back within two shots of the lead.

Cristie Kerr and Jennifer Song are just three back of Jang and one back of Ko in a tie for third at 7-under-par. Karine Icher (67), Gerina Piller (70), and Brittany Lincicome (70) are all tied in fifth at 6-under-par.

Ha Na Jang and Lydia Ko Go Low In Rd.2 of CME Group Tour Championship

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