BELLEAIR, Fla. - Veterans Carlota Ciganda and Lindy Duncan joined first-round co-leader Hye-Jin Choi in a tie atop the leaderboard to share the 36-hole lead at The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican.

Friday, Duncan faced the pressure of trying to follow up a stellar first round, in which she made an ace on her way to a round of 62, with another solid round on day two. Duncan began her day on the back nine and opened with a bogey at the par four, 10th to quickly move in the wrong direction. Buoyed by a huge fan following of friends and family, Duncan rallied with six birdies, offset by one other bogey on her second nine, for a round of 66. The 13-year LPGA Tour veteran missed just a single fairway on Friday and needed only 25 putts to climb to 12-under par to sit atop the leaderboard.

“I've hit a lot of fairways, so I think that gives me a lot of chances going into the greens, and that always helps,” Duncan said about her success through 36-holes. “Really like hitting fairways and holing some putts is always kind of like what's big for my game I think.”

Duncan led the field in putting on day one with just 22 putts. She’ll need to keep the flagstick hot if she wants to separate herself from the field, including her co-leader, Ciganda, a fellow veteran who is near to wrapping up her 14th year on the LPGA Tour. Ciganda gave up just a single bogey through the first two days, resulting in opening rounds of 65-63 and a share of the 36-hole lead.

“Especially yesterday, I know I shoot 5-under but I feel like I hit it very close and it could have been like two or three shots better,” Ciganda said about her start to the week. “I was just like, keep being patient, hit greens, good speed on the putts, and hopefully they'll go in. So I think I was patient today and I got rewarded at the end.”

Ciganda and Duncan sit at 12-under par along with Choi, the first-round co-leader who went out in the afternoon wave on Friday. The wind picked up as the afternoon progressed, something that was noted by several players who went out in the morning wave as they began wrapping up their round. And those challenging conditions kept most of the players in the afternoon from going low.

Choi shared a one-stroke lead to begin the second round and started her day on the back nine. Choi got off to a difficult start by suffering back-to-back opening bogeys to tumble out of the lead. But Choi found a spark on the inward nine, making birdie at the par four, sixth hole followed by an eagle at the par five, seventh hole to return to the top of the leaderboard.

“I think the big difference was the wind,” Choi said about the change in conditions on Friday. “Everything was similar, but just the wind. So I kind of struggled on like the front nine with the wind, but, yeah, I was okay with it afterwards.”

The trio hold a two-stroke lead ahead of major champion Mai Saigo and first round co-leader Minami Katsu at 10-under par.

A pack of players sit in a tie for sixth at nine-under par, including Gaby Lopez, Julia Lopez Ramirez, and Ina Yoon.

Nelly Korda began the second round two strokes back of the lead but the world No. 1 struggled to find the same sort of spark she had on Thursday when she opened with a 63. Friday, Korda, who started her day on the back nine, strung together 15 consecutive pars before getting her first birdie of the day at the par five, seventh hole. After her round, Korda pointed to the wind as the biggest challenge of the day and what she described as “icy” greens on which she says she struggled to gauge the speed.

“I had a lot of chances, I just struggled on the greens,” said Korda, who had 29 putts on day two. “You could just tell from yesterday morning to today’s afternoon, it was just the wind. That’s what the defense of this golf course is. As the greens get kinda icy almost, it's the fastest bermuda I've probably putted on in my career.”

Korda sits four-strokes off the lead through 36-holes at eight-under par along with Yuri Yoshida.

Akie Iwai posted the low round of the day with a nine-under par round of 61. Iwai looked poised to card only the second round of 59 in LPGA Tour history when she came to the 15th hole already eight-under par for the day. Iwai needed to birdie just three of her last four holes to post a round of 59, but was only able to make one additional birdie at the par four, 16th hole to settle for a round of 61. Iwai sits five-strokes off the lead in a pack of players at seven-under par.

“I was aiming 10-under today, and so, yeah, so I made a solid day,” Iwai said about her round. “I got a lot of birdies.”

Defending champion Linn Grant rallied from a difficult start on Thursday in which she was three-over through her first five holes by carding rounds of 68-67 to play her way into the weekend. Grant sits at five-under par through 36-holes.

The cut line fell at 1-under par, sending home several notables including Brooke Henderson (+1), Lilia Vu (+2), and Jennifer Kupcho (+3).

Ciganda and Duncan Join Choi in a Tie Atop the Leaderboard at The ANNIKA

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