Daily Times

Jessica Korda shot a 6-under 65 on Thursday in the HUGEL Air Premia LA Open to break the tournament 36-hole scoring record and increase her lead to three strokes.

A day after matching the Wilshire Country Club tournament record with a 64, Korda opened her bogey-free morning round with birdies on three of her first four holes – holing a 15-footer to start on the par-4 10th. At 13-under 129, she broke the event mark of 8 under set by Moriya Jutanugarn in 2018 in the inaugural tournament.

“It´s going to sound crazy, but I actually lipped out a good amount out there today, so it actually could have been lower,” Korda said. “I don´t complain. I know I made a bogey yesterday, but I made up for it with some birdies. Just had a little bit of a harder time with some speed today.”

Top-ranked Jin Young Ko was second after a 65. Playing in the afternoon on the cool day, she lost a late stroke with a bogey on the par-4 17th.

“Lots of wind out there, so I had a lot of tough shot,” Ko said.

Fellow South Korean star Sei Young Kim was 9 under. She closed her afternoon round with a bogey on the par-3 18th for a 66.

“Overall pretty solid round,” Kim said. “A little bit cold out there, low temperature, but still little breezy. Overall, really nice weather.”

Canadian Brooke Henderson (65) and 43-year-old Angela Stanford (66) were 8 under. So Yeon Ryu (67) was another shot back with Hannah Green (67) and Tiffany Chan (70). Second-ranked Inbee Park (68) was 6 under.

Korda won the season-opening Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions in January for her sixth LPGA Tour title, and sister Nelly Korda followed with a victory a month later in the Gainbridge LPGA in the second event of the year.

Jessica Korda has 13 straight under-par rounds. She hit 33 of 36 greens in the first two rounds.

“You´re just plotting your way around the golf course and trying to be smart where we keep it,” Jessica Korda said. “I got above the hole on a couple holes and they´re not easy putts, so you can definitely get out of position really easily out here, so we´ve been pretty I smart.”

She was 17 strokes ahead of playing partners Lydia Ko and Patty Tavatanakit.

Ko, the winner last week in Hawaii in the Lotte Championship at 28-under 260, followed an opening 78 with a 68 to miss the cut. Tavatanakit, making her first start since winning the ANA Inspiration for her first major title and first LPGA Tour victory, shot 75-71.

“I love being paired with Lydia,” Jessica Korda said. “I think I played a practice round with Patty last year. It was kind of just nice to get to know her. She´s super nice and has a very long career ahead of her. But I love my pairing. Anytime I get paired with Lydia, we always have such a great time. It was very easy going.”

Henderson birdied four of her last five holes.

“I just made a few more putts early, which was really exciting, and a couple long ones, which was really nice,” Henderson said. “I felt like I´ve just got a lot of energy, and a couple great breaks out there, and to finish really strong on the back nine I think was really clutch to climb up the leaderboard a little bit.”

Stanford closed with a bogey on the par-4 ninth.

“I didn´t feel great this morning,” Stanford said. “Sometimes, I think that makes me focus a little bit more, so it was really one shot at a time because at any moment I thought it could go south. Probably good that it kind of kept me focused today.”

Nelly Korda was 3 under after a 73. Seven under after birdieing the first two holes, she dropped five strokes in a four-hole span on the back nine. She bogeyed the par-4 11th, made a triple bogey on the par-5 13th and bogeyed the par-4 14th.

Michelle Wie West followed an opening 70 with a 77 to miss her third straight cut in her comeback.