Germany’s Sandra Gal holds a slender advantage following the second round of the Avnet LPGA Classic in Mobile, Alabama.
Gal began Friday three shots behind overnight leaders Grace Park and Song-Hee Kim, but she racked up eight birdies as she climbed to seven-under after two rounds, a solitary shot ahead of Amy Yang (68).
The 25-year-old did not get off to the best of starts as she bogeyed the par-three second, but things were looking up when she picked up shots at four, six and eight, only for successive bogeys at nine and 10 to ruin her recovery.
However, Gal found some red-hot form on the back nine as she made three successive birdies between the 11th and the 13th, and she picked up two more shots at the 16th and 17th to sign for a five-under round of 67.
And Gal said afterwards: “I didn't start off that strong. It was kind of slow start, but I just made a couple bogeys, at nine and 10, and that was kind of a turning point for me.
“I got down on myself a little bit. Then I was like ‘OK, let's just play one shot at a time and be patient. The birdies are going to come.’ They did, so I was happy about that.”
Meanwhile, joint first-round leaders Park and Kim had mixed fortunes on the second day as the latter carded one birdie and one bogey in an unspectacular par-round that leaves her two shots behind Gal heading into the weekend.
Park, meanwhile, slipped to two-under through 36 holes after a miserable second day that saw her card five bogeys, with just two birdies, for a three-over-par 75.
Second-round leaders:
-7 Sandra Gal, Germany 70 67
-6 Amy Yang, South Korea 70 68
-5 Karen Stupples, Great Britain 68 72
-5 Stacy Lewis, United States 68 71
-5 Song-Hee Kim, South Korea 67 72
-4 Suzann Pettersen, Norway 72 68
-4 Sun Young Yoo, South Korea 72 68
-4 Jenny Suh, United States 71 69
-4 Sarah Kemp, Australia 70 70
-4 Se Ri Pak, South Korea 69 71
