Minjee Lee watches her shot from the rough at the 5th today – photo Jeff Haynes USGA
Minjee Lee has a share of the lead at the US Women’s Open at Pine Needles Lodge and Golf Club In Southern Pines, the West Australian catching the first round leader Mina Harigae to jointly hold a two shot lead over former Australian Women’s Amateur champion, Hyejin Choi, and Anna Nordqvist at the halfway mark of richest and most significant event in women’s golf.
Lee was out in the afternoon on day two and reached the turn in 31 and with Harigae playing in the morning field and posting a 9 under for her opening 36 holes several hours earlier, Lee added two further birdies late in her round to go with a solitary bogey and the pair stand atop a field of the game’s elite.
Lee has played in eight previous US Women’s Opens and has yet to record a top ten but she has shown with her fine play this year, where she leads to points standing on the LPGA Tour, that something much better was likely this week.
“I started pretty solid with two birdies to start, so that was nice,” said Lee who has never been one for a lot of depth in her media appearances. “I had a string of pars until maybe 8 and 9, I think, which were really good — both of them were really nice birdies.
“Then I bogeyed one hole on the back nine, made a really good up-and-down on the 17th, and finished my round 5-under today, so pretty solid overall.
“I’m not sure how the conditions are going to change and what time I’m playing, but I’ve been taking one shot at a time,” added Lee when asked her thoughts on the weekend.
“The golf course can really catch up to you quickly, so just trying to take whatever I have in front of me as I go and just try to take — whenever I have a birdie opportunity, I try to take advantage of that.
“Yeah, that’s pretty much what I’m going to focus on and just do whatever I can that is in my control.”
Harigae has yet to win on the LPGA Tour but she did finish 3rd at last year’s Tour Championship and runner-up in one other event so she has game but not the experience in contention of Lee although she did lead the Women’s British Open at the halfway mark last year.
After her round today, Harigae talked about the aspects that have seen her improvement over the past six months.
“I think it’s the people I surrounded myself with. I went back to my old swing coach that knows me best. I met my fiance, Travis. He has a great killer athlete mentality. He kind of brought me back to how I was in my amateur golf days. More of that kind of mentality.
“Just surrounding myself with people that are really good for me.
“I think I’m just a completely different person and golfer in general. I’m hitting a lot more greens now. I’ve always generally been a pretty good driver of the golf ball, but it’s my irons that have really taken care of where I’m going with my game. Putting too. I’ve been making a lot more putts. I’m way more confident with it.
“I think just as a person I’m much more mature. It took me a little bit, but I feel like I’m a lot more mature than I was in my 20s.”
Hannah Green and Lydia Ko are the next best of the seven strong Australasian challenge, the pair at 1 under and in a share of 21st and Grace Kim, playing in her very first US Women’s Open and a recent winner on the Epson Tour, has done well to make the cut on the number.
Sarah Kemp missed the weekend by one, Gabi Ruffels by four and New Zealand’s Julianne Alvarez several shots further back.
Mina Harigae shares the halfway lead with Minjee Lee – photo Jeff Haynes USGA
