June 17, 2017: India’s Aditi Ashok shot up eleven spots on the leaderboard with a solid 68 in the second round of Meijer LPGA Classic. Brooke Henderson is leading round two by two shots after a second round 4-under-par 66.
Aditi Ashok is in good form and her brilliant effort on Friday helped her get within six strokes off the leading pace.
Aditi added a three-under-par 68 to her first round score to climb up to T14. She made three birdies on the front nine with a lone bogey at the sixth. She continued with a spotless back nine by adding another birdie at the eleventh hole for a solid second round.
Henderson rattled off four-straight birdies in the middle of her round to open up a four-shot lead; however, she ended with two-straight bogeys to drop back to the field.
The 19-year-old said No.17 is just a ‘tough hole’ and she didn’t get the result she had hoped, making bogey. She ended up trying to ‘chase’ a birdie on No.18 to get it back, and let emotion get into her psyche.
“Two bogeys to finish, but that just gives me a little more motivation going into tomorrow,” she said.”
Once again she averaged nearly 290 yards off the tee at the Blythefield Country Club in Grand Rapids, Michigan and hit 85 percent of her fairways. Her 12-under total through two rounds is also the 36-hole scoring record for the Meijer LPGA Classic.
Carlota Ciganda shot the round of the day, a 7-under-par 64. She had a bogey-free Friday, and the 64 was her best result of 2017.
Ciganda, a two-time LPGA Tour winner, is at 10-under for the tournament and currently tied for second with Lexi Thompson and Mi Jung Hur, who has three top-5 finishes on the season. Hur shot a 5-under-par 66 Friday – her second-straight 66 – and both are two shots back of Henderson’s lead.
“I played really solid, I made really good putts,” said Ciganda. “I like the course. I feel comfortable. I played here last year and I’m excited for the weekend.”
Rounding out the Top 10 are Cristie Kerr, Sung Hyun Park, Madelene Sagstrom and Stacy Lewis are all at 7-under and tied for 10th.
Lewis admitted she had a ‘frustrating’ day Friday, after grinding out a 7-under-par 64 Thursday she made one birdie and one bogey in round two.
“Just a little mad about the way kind of the second shots were going. But I drove it great, which is something positive to come out of the round. Just didn’t really get a whole lot out of the round kind of from the second shot in. Kind of disappointed,” she said.
Defending champion Sei Young Kim made the cut on the number at 2-under.
– Edited LPGA Tour Release
