Photo credit: @LPGA

By Jeremy Harness

DALY CITY, Calif. – Friday’s second round was full of low scores and breathtaking, edge-of-your-seat shots, to take the overall lead as well to just make the cut in order to stick around for the weekend.

Jessica Korda used a blistering front nine to shoot out to the outright lead after two rounds at the LPGA MEDIHEAL Championship at Lake Merced Golf Club.

Korda, who turned pro eight years ago and whose last win came at the 2015 Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia, recorded four birdies on the front side with no bogeys. Her only setback of the day came at the par-four 11^th hole, where she missed the green and could not get up and down to drop a shot.

However, she had two birdies on the back side to minimize the damage, and she made her way to the clubhouse with a one-shot lead after a round of 67.

“I knew I was going to get certain bounces that weren’t going to be favorable as the greens got firmer during the afternoon, (but I) stayed patient and stayed with the process, and here we are,” Korda said. “It’s only Friday. Still two more days to go. Out here, you just never know.”

Annie Park, who fired a six-under 66 on Friday, is one shot behind Korda at eight-under for the tournament, while Lydia Ko is only two shots behind at six-under after shooting a two-under round of 70.

Cristie Kerr is not near the leaderboard, but she did make the cut – set at two-over par – in a quite-spectacular way.

As she approached the 18^th green, things appeared to be coming to a frustrating close for Kerr. After reaching the par-5 15^th green in two shots, she three-putted the green to settle for a par, and after rallying for a birdie at the 16^th, she found the greenside bunker at the next hole and bogeyed after failing to get up and down.

Kerr found herself between two greenside bunkers on the right side of the 18^th green after pushing her second shot. Only able to see the top of the flag from where her ball sat, her pitch shot rolled until the ball found itself into the hole for an eagle to make the cut on the number.

She could not see the ball once it landed on the green, but the loud roar of the crowd – as well as her caddie telling her that it went in – prompted Kerr, who is also an accomplished winemaker to lay flat on the ground and throw her hands onto her head in a measure of exhalation of the moment.

That seemed to have residual effect for Ko, her Friday playing partner. Although she fell out of the lead on Friday, she still showed every sign of having fun playing the game – her trademark – and quickly followed up Kerr’s heroics with a chip-in of her own for a birdie.

“Cristie’s obviously the top example of just never giving up until the very end,” Ko said. “I think I was more pumped for Cristie’s eagle that I was like, ‘Man, you need to focus, you have a tough chip here.’”