Lake Nona member Lydia Ko, Lottie Woad share lead in LPGA Tour opener

Lake Nona member Lydia Ko, Lottie Woad share lead in LPGA Tour opener

ORLANDO, Fla. (AP) — Lake Nona member Lydia Ko shot a 5-under 67 on Friday for a share of second-round lead with Lottie Woad in the LPGA Tour’s season-opening Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions.

Ko, the 2024 tournament winner and a Hilton Grand Vacations ambassador, is the lone participant in the 39-woman subject without a bogey after two days. The Hall of Famer has 23 LPGA Tour victories.

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“I’ve had to hole some good par putts, but I really haven’t put myself in that many difficult positions as of yet,” said Ko, from New Zealand. “I think that’s why I had the two bogey-free rounds. I’m hoping to kind of continue that good momentum this weekend.”

Woad shot a 69 to match Ko at 8-under 136 in largely sunny situations with 12 mph wind at the most in the 70-degree afternoon.

“I looked at the leaderboard quite a lot today because I was getting annoyed,” Woad said. “Seemed like there weren’t that many low scores out there, so kind of knew I was still in it. The pins were probably a little trickier so weren’t as many birdies as yesterday.”

The 22-year-old English participant gained the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open last yr, weeks after taking the KPMG Women’s Irish Open as an newbie on the Ladies European Tour.

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Nasa Hataoka, also a Lake Nona member, was a stroke again with Amy Yang. Hataoka had a 71, and Yang shot 69.

Defending champion A Lim Kim was 6 under after her second 69. Youmin Hwang (67) and Ingrid Lindblad (69) also had been 6 under.

Top-ranked Jeeno Thitikul and Kelly Korda had been 5 under. Thitkul had a 72, and Korda shot 71.

“I think the weather is going to get a little worse so I’m going to go to the putting green, go to the range because wasn’t hitting it the best today,” Korda said. “Just going to figure some things out ahead of the weekend.”

Baseball participant Aaron Hicks topped the movie star subject.

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AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf

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