Lydia Ko’s opening round at the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions was solid, but she was one of the rare players who found more success Friday.
Ko shot a -5 67 in the second round, which is the best anyone has shot at the time of publishing by two strokes. Lake Nona Golf Club in Orlando was playing much more difficult Friday, but it wasn’t anything the Hall of Famer couldn’t handle.
Ko started off a bit slow but didn’t draw any blood on the scorecard, making pars on her first seven holes. She finally got into red figures with back-to-back birdies on eight and nine before making the turn. She hit a bit of a hot streak starting with hole 13, where she made three birdies in a row.
On 18, Ko found herself in trouble after a poor approach shot. She did what she has always done best though, scrambled her way through it. She hit a beautiful pitch shot that ended right next to the hole, allowing her to tap in for par and finish off a bogey-free day.
Ko only hit seven fairways and 12 greens, but was magical on and around the greens, needing only 25 putts to get through the round. She is at only 52 putts for the week, which is what has moved her to the top of the leaderboard despite mediocre ball striking numbers.
Ko is tied at the top at -8 with Lottie Woad. The two superstars are one stroke clear of Amy Yang and Nasa Hataoka.
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