They may have been in the last two pairings off the first tee in the morning wave, but Dongeun Lee from Korea, and Weiwei Zhang from China were determined to give the crowd plenty of firepower.
Impressive enough that Lee made five birdies in her round of 69 to get through 36 holes at 6-under 138, but Zhang followed that with something a little better – a whopping eight birdies to shoot 68 and push to 5-under overall.
Lee one day earlier had recorded a rather intriguing scorecard because four times she followed a bogey with a birdie.
According to the Elias Sports Bureau, Lee was just the third player in the last 15 years to go four-for-four in bounce-backs (birdies after a bogey) in any round of a major championship.
“I think I was able to safely kind of save my score because of that,” said Lee of that first-round magic.
Her second round might not have featured as much up-and-down action but the same cannot be said for Zhang; she sprinkled in four bogeys in and around her eight birdies, but all in all she loved what played out.
“I hit it really close,” said Zhang, whose longest birdie putt was from 15 feet at No. 6. Five of the birdie rolls were from inside of 10 feet. No surprise, either, that she made third birdies at the par-5s.
“Yes, I was aggressive on the par-5s today. I’ve had a lot of chances.”
