By Al Campbell
VANCOUVER, Aug. 25 (Xinhua) -- Megan Khang moved to the top of the leaderboard during second round play of the CPKC Women's Open on Friday as the American carded a six-under 66 for a one-stroke lead at Canada's national championship.
Through 36 holes at Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club, Khang was seven-under 137 at the 2.5 million U.S. dollars LPGA Tour event. Sweden's Linn Grant finished the day when she started in second place after a one-under 71.
Overnight leader Yuka Saso of Japan struggled to a one-over 73 to sit two shots back in equal third with South Korean Ko Jin-young (70). American Nelly Korda, the World No. 2, was fifth after a 70 at three shots back.
World No. 3 Yin Ruoning (72) and Yan Jing (71) were the top Chinese players on even par 144. Zhang Weiwei was two shots further back after a 77. Liu Yu (72), Liu Ruixin (74) and Lin Xiyu (74) also made the four-over cut. Liu Yan (72) and amateurs Alice Zhao (75) and Liu Yanjun (76) missed the weekend play. He Muni withdrew.
Khang put herself in contention for her first LPGA Tour win when she carded a bogey-free round featuring six birdies, including five consecutively starting from the 11th hole.
"It was a solid day. Yesterday I felt pretty good, but it's never a good feeling finishing with three bogeys in a row. I knew I could play some pretty good golf out here," said the 25-year-old from Massachusetts.
"This golf course I feel like you can't really get too comfortable on. These fairways are tight and the greens are fast and firm, so I'm not taking anything for granted. I'm just going out there just trying to deal with one shot at a time."
Linn started her early morning round on the Shaughnessy back nine and picked up birdies at the 14th, 17th and first holes to get to eight-under. She then stumbled down the stretch with bogeys at the fourth and her last hole, the ninth, to remain one stroke off the lead.
"A bit similar to yesterday. I feel like I actually hit the ball better today, just didn't get the same momentum as yesterday," said the Swede. "Still, a tricky course. Some good golf, but not quite there."
Brooke Henderson, World No. 10, rebounded from a disastrous opening round 75 to post a 68 in the second round to safely make the weekend play and please her legion of Canadian fans. The pressure will now be on the Ontario native to repeat as champion of the tournament she won in 2018 despite being six strokes back.
"Yeah, I'm super excited to play on the weekend. Hopefully I can just continue to climb the leaderboard and move up a little bit," said Henderson who has won 13 times on the LPGA Tour, including two majors.
"Yeah, I needed a confidence boost after the last few weeks and after yesterday, so this feels good. Hopefully I will just continue on and keep pushing."
Notable scores included World No. 1 Lilia Vu (72) on even par, tied with France's Celine Boutier (71). New Zealand's Lydia Ko was two shots further back after a 74. ■
