Park sets 36-hole scoring record to lead at Thornberry

[July 06, 2019]  A 10-under-par 62 from South Korean Sung Hyun Park vaulted the 2017 LPGA Player of the Year to the top of the leaderboard after Round 2 of the Thornberry Creek Classic in Oneida, Wis.

Park, who returned to No. 1 in the rankings after a win last week in Arkansas, made 10 birdies on the round, including a stretch from Nos. 6-16 where she birdied nine of 11, and stands at 17-under 127. Her 17-under two-round total set a course record.

"My putting was especially at its best, and I think I've played a good two rounds," said Park via a translater following her round. "I definitely knew that there had to be a lot of birdies and I tried to avoid bogeys as much as possible. The greens are very soft so it was easy to sort of target the pins."

One shot back at 16 under is 17-year-old Monday qualifier Yealimi Noh, who followed up her opening-round 63 with a bogey-free 65. Alone in third at 15 under is Thailand's Ariya Jutanugarn, who also went bogey free during her round of 64.

First-day leader Yu Liu of China struggled at the start or Round 2. She bogeyed the first two holes before settling into a stretch of three straight birdies and finished with a 69 to stand tied for sixth at 13 under.

Mina Harigae shot 63 on Friday to head into the weekend tied for fourth place with fellow American Tiffany Joh at 14 under. She found a lot of success off the tee, hitting 14 of 14 fairways.

Harigae said her coach is with her in Wisconsin this week, and they have been working on her ball striking.

"Basically, just getting it back on the correct shoulder plane," Harigae told lpga.com. "Now it's much more solid."

Tied with Harigae for fourth place is fellow American Tiffany Joh. Joh has found most her success on the front nine of the course. The 32-year-old finished 10 of her 14 birdies on front nine holes.

Joh said that even with her success on the front nine so far, she is not going to get too confident about the holes over the next two days.

"I've played golf long enough to know that you have never really figured this game out so I know better than to go out there tomorrow strutting down the front nine just because I felt like I played it a little bit better," Joh said following her round. "It's golf, and you never know what is going to happen."

Defending champion Sei Young Kim of South Korea just made the cut at 5 under after shooting a second-round 70 and stands tied for 56th.

--Field Level Media

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