So Yeon Ryu of South Korea carded a bogey-free 7-under-par 65 to grab a two-stroke lead over Ryann O’Toole, Morgan Pressel and Minjee Lee of Australia midway through the Yokohama Tire LPGA Classic at the Senator Course on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail in Prattville, Ala.
Ryu, who has three victories on the LPGA Tour including the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open and is ranked 10th in the world, birdied the 10th and 15th holes after starting on the back nine and then put five more birdies on her scorecard while finishing on the front.
“I’ve been working on my long game really hard and actually having a better ball trajectory since I’m working with my new coach, so I think even when I’m playing with the really strong wind … I feel more comfortable to play in the wind,” said Ryu, who has 13 other pro victories, most of them in Asia.
“I think just trust. I know I practiced hard, I know I prepared well, so just, you know, trust you and believe you. That’s the big key when you play with the wind.
O’Toole from San Clemente and UCLA, recorded four birdies on the front nine in a bogey-free 67, while Pressel put up a bogey-free 68 and Lee made her only bogey on the 18th hole in a 70.
Annie Lee of USC shot 71 and was three strokes behind in a tie for fourth with first-round leader Laetitia Beck of Israel, who had a 73, and Caroline Masson of Germany, who came in at 68.
Fourth-ranked Stacy Lewis carded a 68 and was another shot down in a tie for eighth with Brittany Lincicome (67), Hyo Joo Kim (68) of South Korea, Gerina Piller (68), Paula Reto (68) of South Africa, Amy Yang (68) of South Korea and Ariya Jutanugarn (69) of Thailand.
