After day two at Jian Lake Blue Bay Golf Course, Narin An and Sarah Schmelzel find themselves in a tie for first at the Blue Bay LPGA. Both players lead the field of 66 players and sit at nine-under par heading into the weekend.
Sitting in 20th place after the first round, An teed off on No. 10 on Friday, making a birdie on her first hole of the day. She made two pars before picking up a birdie on the 13th, and made one more on the 17th hole to make the turn at three-under par. The 2021 LPGA Q-Series medalist then went on a birdie streak from holes 1 to 5, reaching to eight-under par in the second round. For the next two holes, she held the lead at 10-under par for the tournament before making her first and only bogey of the day on the par-5 8th. An turned in a seven-under par 65 for the second round, tying the 18-hole scoring record set by Ariya Jutanugarn in 2016, and also tied by Sun Yuong Yoo in 2017 and Minjee Lee in both 2016 and the first round of 2024.
A familiar name near the top of the leaderboard as of late, Schmelzel started her day off of No. 1, making two pars on her first two holes. She made a birdie on her first par-5, the 3rd hole and followed it up with six more pars on the front nine. Schmelzel grabbed her only bogey of 36 holes on the hardest hole across two rounds, No. 10. She picked up her steam as she continued on the back, making three straight birdies on holes 12, 13 and 14 to reach nine-under par. The 2019 LPGA Tour Rookie closed her round out with four pars to turn in another round in the 60s.
“It was good. You know, like I said, I didn't really change much of my process from -- or was going to change much of my process from the first round to today's round, and same goes for the weekend. You know, just trying to put one foot in front of the other, really manage the golf course. With the greens and everything, just trying to really minimize mistakes,” said Schmelzel who recorded her first top-10 finish last week since the 2023 Ascendant LPGA benefiting Volunteers of America. “It's nice to see the prep work and the game plan pay off so par, and just looking forward to seeing how it holds up over the weekend.”
The duo is followed closely behind by Korean Hye-Jin Choi, who sits in solo third place at eight-under par. Playing in the morning wave, Choi held the second-round lead for most of the day until An and Schmelzel finished their rounds later in the day. Choi also bogeyed No. 10, but proceeded to make four birdies in her last five holes of the back nine to reach eight-under par for the tournament. She had a bogey on the 2nd hole and a birdie on the 3rd hole, followed by six pars to wrap up her round of 69.
The lowest scoring player from the People’s Republic of China, Ruixin Liu, and the 2016 Blue Bay LPGA champion, Minjee Lee, sit in a tie for fourth place at seven-under par. Both players shot rounds in the 70s on Friday, but thanks to their seven- and six-under par first rounds, they maintain their position within the top five.
Four players including LPGA Tour veteran Stephanie Meadow, Race to CME Globe No. 1 Lydia Ko and 2023 LPGA Tour Rookies Bailey Tardy and Lucy Li sit in a tie for sixth place, just three shots out of the lead headed into Moving Day. Sixty-six players return for another round of play, starting at 9:45 a.m. local time.
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