PHOENIX — Nelly Korda was simply nearly as good within the harder afternoon situations Friday, posting a 7-under 65 for the bottom 36-hole rating of her LPGA Tour profession and constructing a two-shot lead on the midway level of the Ford Championship.

Korda missed a chance late to stretch her lead a little bit extra when she missed a 2-foot birdie putt on the par-5 seventeenth.

However this was not a day to complain on the Cattail course at Whirlwind Golf Membership. She adopted an amazing opening spherical — one thing Lydia Ko didn’t do — with a gradual food regimen of birdie possibilities and a easy, assured stroke with the putter.

“I’ve left a pair pictures on the market on the finish,” Korda mentioned. “However I am taking part in actually strong golf, and after I do make a mistake, I attempt not go let it faze me an excessive amount of.”

She was at 16-under 128, two pictures forward of a well-known face. Hyo Joo Kim, the defending champion in Phoenix, received final week on the Founders Cup by holding off Korda within the ultimate hour. Korda missed a brief putt on the seventeenth gap Sunday that thwarted hopes of a second straight win to start out the 12 months.

Kim, who opened with a 61, overcame a errors early to put up a 69. Saturday would be the fourth straight spherical for Korda and Kim to play in the identical group.

“Simply getting sick of one another now,” Korda mentioned with fun. “Yeah, she’s taking part in such strong golf. On the finish of the day that’s one thing that motivates me to wish to keep together with her at that stage. We’re simply going forwards and backwards, so it’s good. On the finish of the day we’re rivals, however we’re very pleasant. I’ve all the time loved taking part in together with her. I’m all the time mesmerized by her placing.”

Ko shot a 60 in morning situations of the primary spherical and would not really feel as if she performed that a lot in a different way — besides the putts turned away on the final second or burned the sting. She made so many putts in her opening spherical, and solely sufficient on Friday for a 71 that left her three pictures behind together with Jenny Bae (65) and Minami Katsu (66).

The ultimate gap summed up her day — an excellent drive, an excellent method, and a 12-foot putt that good all the best way till it peeled away to the fitting.

“I simply didn’t actually gap many putts right now,” Ko mentioned. “It’s clearly more durable to get nearer to the pins simply taking part in within the afternoon and the greens being a little bit firmer. I believe I struggled with a few the quick ones. … However that’s golf, proper? I can’t management all the pieces. Yesterday was I believe extra of the shock I believe simply capturing a rating like that.”

She nonetheless discovered herself proper within the combine and Ko figures all the pieces will steadiness out.

“I really feel like my sport is trending in the fitting course,” she mentioned.

Asterisk Talley, the 17-year-old novice, had a 65 and was within the group six pictures behind at 10 beneath. Talley will likely be going to the house of the Masters subsequent week to compete within the Augusta Nationwide Girls’s Novice, which she had an opportunity to win final 12 months.

Scoring has been so good, notably within the morning on smoother greens, that the minimize got here at 5-under 135. Amongst these lacking out on the weekend had been Girls’s British Open champion Miyu Yamashita of Japan and Lexi Thompson, making her first begin of the season.

Korda received the season opener in Florida, which was minimize quick to 54 holes due to extreme wind and chilly. She skipped the Asia swing as she typically does, and was runner-up to Kim final week at Sharon Heights in Northern California.

“I am actually blissful the place my sport is at now,” Korda mentioned.

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