World No. 4 Kim Hyo-joo climbed to sole second place after the second round of the LPGA Tour Ford Championship on Wednesday (Korea time).
Kim carded one eagle, three birdies, and two bogeys for a 3-under-par 69 at the Cattail Course of Whirlwind Golf Club in Phoenix, Arizona (par 72, 6,675 yards), bringing her two-round total to 14-under-par 130. She trails only Nelly Korda of the United States, who sits atop the leaderboard at 16-under-par 128.
Kim won her eighth career LPGA title at last week's Fortinet Founders Cup with a wire-to-wire victory, leading from the first round through the final. She opened the Ford Championship with an 11-under-par 61 on Tuesday to claim sole second place after Round 1. Kim is competing in the tournament as the defending champion.
Her round on Wednesday did not start well. Kim bogeyed the first hole (par 4). She recovered with a birdie on the second hole (par 5), but dropped another shot with a bogey on the fourth hole (par 4). Unable to gain strokes through the front nine, Kim turned things around on the back nine. On the 12th hole (par 5), she hit an iron shot to reach the green in two and sank an eagle putt from approximately 8 meters. She then drained consecutive birdies on the 16th hole (par 4) and 17th hole (par 5) with excellent putting.
"I wasn't satisfied because I made a lot of mistakes early on," Kim said after the round. "I thought there were still many holes left and plenty of birdie opportunities, so I focused on lowering my score on the back nine." She added, "I won this tournament last year, and I won last week's event too. I will approach the remaining rounds with a positive mindset to finish this tournament well."
Korda, who held sole third place after the first round, shaved seven strokes off par on Wednesday to take the lead. Kim and Korda, who battled for the title at the Fortinet Founders Cup with just one stroke separating them, are once again competing for the top spot at this event.
Other Korean players also performed well. Jeon In-ji fired nine birdies against one bogey for an 8-under-par 64, moving to a two-round total of 12-under-par 132 and a share of sixth place. Yun I-na shot a 6-under-par 66 for a two-round total of 11-under-par 133 to sit in a tie for eighth. Lim Jin-hee, Lee Jeong-eun (born 1988), and Shin Ji-eun are tied for 13th at 9-under-par 135. Lydia Ko, the New Zealand-based Korean-born player who led outright after an opening-round 12-under-par 60, struggled to a 1-under-par 71 on Wednesday and slipped to a tie for third at 13-under-par 131, alongside Korean American Janie Bae and Minami Katsu of Japan.