| -15 J Lee6 (Kor); -12 P Anannarukarn (Tha); -12 A Jutanugarn (Tha); -9 L Ko (NZ); -9 Y Noh (US); -8 Furue (Jap) |
| Selected others: -3 C Hull (Eng); -2 K Jin-young (Kor); -1 N Korda (US) |
| Full leaderboard |
Former US Open winner Jeongeun Lee6 took solid strides towards a second major with a record-equalling round of 61 at the Evian Championship.
The 25-year-old South Korean sent ripples through the rest of the field with a 10-under-par performance.
Her score of 127 over 36 holes broke Brooks Koepka’s record of 128 set at the PGA Championship in 2016.
“I tried to keep it on the fairway and keep it on the green and I focused on putting speed, and that’s it,” said Lee6, after finishing her round with four straight birdies.
Later, Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn went bogey free, eagling the last, for a magnificent eight-under-par display. Her best round of 63 at Evian leaves her tied in second spot on 12 under par before the weekend’s finale.
On Lee6’s earlier round, Jutanugarn said: “The way she plays is amazing. I watched her play this morning and she made everything.”
Overnight joint leader, Thailand’s Pajaree Anannarukarn, shot back-to-back rounds of 65, also hitting an eagle on the 18th green, and now sits joint second on 12 under.
Inbee Park will have won all five women’s majors in her career if she can forge her way to victory, and a magnificent second round ended on seven under for the day and the tournament overall.
New Zealand’s Lydia Ko came back from a bogey first to hit seven birdies over the remaining 17 holes and is nine under par for the tournament, tied in third with US teenager Yealimi Noh.
