In a glimpse at the future and the past, Lexi Thompson scorched the Mission Hills golf course with a bogey-free eight-under 64 and shares the lead at seven-under with Se Ri Pak at the LPGA Kraft Nabisco Championship halfway mark.
Thompson, a 19-year-old from Coral Springs, Florida, started the day at one-over on the back nine, while Pak, a 36-year-old Hall of Famer from Daejon, South Korea started just one shot back from Round 1 leader Shanshan Feng.
Thompson parred the first five holes, but from there she played the remaining 13 at an amazing eight-under and grabbed the lead heading into the clubhouse. She has three LPGA victories to her credit, but is looking for her first major win.
"I was just trying to stay in the moment and ... not think about what I was shooting" said Thompson.
Pak also had a bogey-free round, but she could only manage to card two birdies on her round today. She has won 25 times on the LPGA including five major championships. A win here would be her first at the LPGA’s first major of the year.
Once she finished her round, she saw her tied with Thompson, but after seeing the American’s score she said plain and simple: “That’s amazing.”
American Michelle Wie also started her round just one shot from the lead. She began on the back nine and birdied her opening hole to grab a share of the lead at that point, but gave that shot back with a bogey on the Par-4 13th. She would get one more birdie the rest of the way, at the Par-5 second (her 11th today) to be in solo third at six-under.
Another American, Cristie Kerr, shot a two-under 70 and grabbed a share of fourth place at five-under with opening round leader Shanshan Feng, who shot a one-over 73.
Kerr had a bogey on the Par-5 second, but recovered right away with a birdie on the Par-4 third. She would go on to add two more birdies on the 10th and 16th. Feng could not conjure the magic she made on Thursday and mixed four bogeys and three birdies on Friday. Both are two shots from the leaders.
Scotland’s Catriona Matthew (68), Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist (69) and American Morgan Pressel (70) are tied for sixth place at four-under.
Matthew played a bogey-free round, while Nordqvist got going on the back nine where she carded three of her four birdies on the day, including the final hole. Pressel had a roller coaster round that included five birdies, a bogey and one double bogey.
Rounding up the Top 10, tied for ninth at three-under are, American Mo Martin, who had was another player with a bogey-free round four-under 68 and South Korean Amy Yang who struggled to a one-over 73.
Defending champ and World’s No. 1, Inbee Park, was much better today with her two-under 70 from her opening 74. She sits T-28 at even-par.
Other world top players, American Stacy Lewis (No. 3), New Zealand teenage phenom Lydia Ko (No. 4) and Karrie Webb (No. 5) are current T19 at one-under; So Yeon Ryu (No. 6) is T11 at two-under and Paula Creamer (No. 8) is T46 at two-over.
Among the Amateurs, the No. 1 in the World, Australian Minjee Lee, bounced back in a seven-shot swing from her opening round of 75 to a four-under 68 to be the top placed amateur so far T19 at two-under. Canadian Brook Henderson is her nearest rival T36 at one-over, and American Lilia Vu T46 at two-over.
Notable players that missed the five-over score cut: Lizette Salas (six-over) and former World No. 1, Yani Tseng (seven-over).
The action resumes with the third round on Saturday at 11:07 am ET with Dewi Claire Schreefel from The Netherlands teeing it off. For more on the tee times, click here.
Golf Channel will provide the TV coverage from 5:00 pm to 9:00 pm ET.