Amy Yang of Korea plays a tee-shot during the second round of the Honda LPGA Thailand 2016 ladies professional golf tournament at Siam Country Club Old Course in Pattaya, Friday, Feb. 26.
Pattaya (AP) — Defending champion Amy Yang carded a 3-under 69 to lead by one halfway through the LPGA Thailand on Friday.
Yang trailed first-round leader Lexi Thompson by two before teeing off at Siam Country Club, then had consecutive bogeys on Nos. 5 and 6, but rallied with four birdies, including on the par-3 12th.
At 9 under overall, the South Korean was one shot ahead of countrywoman Q Baek (71) and Americans Jessica Korda (66) and Thompson (72).
“I struggled a little bit on the front, two bogeys straight, but I stayed patient, got through it well,” Yang said. “Leading by one shot is not much, and two more rounds is still a lot of golf.”
Korda’s low round of the day, matched by Haru Nomura of Japan, was capped by a 12-foot eagle putt on her last hole.
Xi Yu Lin of China hit a hole in one on the 186-yard, par-3 16th, and earned a Honda Accord. Lin becomes the first player in the tournament’s 10-year history to walk away with the hole-in-one prize.
“Oh, that’s my honor,” said Lin. “It’s funny, yesterday I hit the same club, and my ball finished, I think, like a yard from the hole today, so I was thinking, okay, tomorrow it’s going to be the same strategy for me, so I just hit exactly the same club, the same way to hit it, and it’s the same way, so it did go in. It worked.”
