-
Ashleigh Buhai of South Africa plays her shot from the 16th tee during the second round of the JM Eagle LA Championship on Friday at El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana. (Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images)
1 of 4
Ashleigh Buhai of South Africa plays her shot from the 16th tee during the second round of the JM Eagle LA Championship on Friday at El Caballero Country Club in Tarzana. (Photo by Katelyn Mulcahy/Getty Images)
Expand
TARZANA — The 36-hole leaderboard at this week’s JM Eagle LA Championship at El Caballero Country Club resembles the nearby 101 freeway at rush hour with 14 players within four shots of co-leaders Ingrid Lindblad and Asleigh Buhai, who lead the way at 13-under-par 131.
In just the fourth start of her rookie season on the LPGA Tour, Lindblad posted a career-low 9-under 63 in cool conditions on Friday, a round that included 10 birdies. Buhai, who was a co-leader after round one, followed her 9-under opening round with a solid 4-under 68.
The greens at El Caballero feature a plethora of undulations and slope, but Lindblad felt extremely confident reading her putts throughout the round and that high level of comfort allowed her to roll putts with confidence as she made her way around the course.
“Every putt I stood over I’m like, okay, this has a chance to go in,” said Lindblad, a 25-year-old former LSU star from Sweden. “So read the greens really well. Made a couple of these like good 10-footers, 17-footers, so it wasn’t just tap-ins. I only made par on the two shortest par-5s, so I feel like it could have been lower, too.”
Following a low round with another good round can be difficult, but Buhai managed to do just that, playing solid golf on Friday after her record-tying 63 on Thursday. With the temperature only climbing into the low 60s on an overcast day, the 35-year-old South African’s ability to limit mistakes and make some big putts helped keep her at the top of the leaderboard for the second straight day.
“Yeah, it’s always difficult to follow a low one, but I’m pretty happy how I played today,” said Buhai, the 2022 Women’s British Open winner. “Pins were a little trickier, but still some that were gettable. I missed a few more greens, but proud of how I hung in there. The greens just got a little crustier, so I felt like I hit good putts that dropped yesterday, and today it was kind of like – looked like they were going in and did something else at the hole. I hit my lines and just continued to keep doing that, and finally got a little bit rewarded on the back nine today.”
The two leaders will have plenty of chasers as they tee off on Saturday, led by two-time major winner Minjee Lee who is just a stroke back of the leaders after firing a second-round 65 that put her at 12 under through 36 holes.
Lee switched to a long putter at the start of the year with the hopes of being more consistent on the greens, and if Friday’s round is any indication, the equipment switch might yield huge dividends for Lee.
“I hit it really solid and holed quite a number of good length putts,” Lee said. “The greens were softer, but for the most part they were releasing out. I felt like I wasnvt right next to the holes but I still holed a bunch of really nice putts.”
Lee, who won the 2019 tournament at Wilshire Country Club, has just one bogey through the first 36 holes. She said driving it in the right places has been key to giving her the opportunity to hit her approach shots into the right spots on the very tricky El Cab greens.
“If the pin is on the right and you’re on the right side of the fairway, it’s a little bit tougher to hit into the small portions where the pins are,” Lee said. “Being in the right spot off the tee and obviously just hitting good iron shots into the greens. Some of the greens are a little bit bigger, and there is bigger landing spots. We also have a few holes where we hit wedges into the greens, so just trying to take advantage of that, too.”
Behind Lee there is a large group of players sitting within striking distance, highlighted by World No. 1 Nelly Korda who sits at 9-under 135 after rounds of 67-68. Early in the second round, Korda made a double-bogey on the fourth and followed it with a bogey on the fifth, putting her in danger of missing the cut. But she turned things around from there, making two birdies to close her front nine and two more to begin her second nine.
“After the hiccup with kind of a silly double bogey and a bogey to back it up,” Korda said. “Had a little bit of a pep talk and then fought my way back to even through nine and kind of played some solid golf on the back nine. I knew if I hit solid shots off the tee that I would have pretty good shots into the green with wedges (over the final nine holes).”
Lindblad has seen some mixed results through the first three starts of her LPGA career. Coming into this week she spent time trying to hone her swing, especially with the driver, and believes she is heading in the right direction.
“I feel like if you put the work in, like eventually it’s going to show up,” Lindblad said. “Obviously it’s hard to tell exactly when it’s going to show up, but I feel like I’ve been working on good things in my golf game that I need to get better at. After a day like this it shows that it paid off.”
First-round co-leader Yan Liu shot a 70 to drop into a tie for fourth at 11 under with Lauren Coughlin (67) and Miyu Yamashita (65).
Second-ranked Jeeno Thitikul also was 9 under, shooting 67.
Two-time defending champion Hannah Green was 8 under after a 67.
Asterisk Talley, the 16-year-old Californian playing on a sponsor’s exemption missed the cut by a stroke, shooting 69-72. The recent runner-up at the Augusta National Women’s Amateur, she was second last year at El Caballero in the U.S. Girls Junior.
The tournament is being played at El Caballero because of renovations at Wilshire. It will return to Wilshire next season.
Originally Published:
