Sei Young Kim – Photo by Max Bechtoldt/Women’s Golf Daily News
On day two at the 2026 JM Eagle LA Championship, South Korean veteran Sei Young Kim took advantage of the easier morning conditions to shoot -7 65 to take the lead.
Kim has been thus far one of the few to conquer both the morning and afternoon waves at El Caballero, just outside of Los Angeles, shooting two 65s to get to -14 heading into the weekend. She is certainly on pace to top the winning score of -21 in 2025.
For the week, Kim has largely avoided mistakes, which is important for every player, but perhaps more for her than anyone else out there. The style of play Kim attacks the course with can lead to some up-and-down scorecards, but thus far in Los Angeles she has dropped just one shot along with her 15 birdies.
She didn’t make any major mistakes Friday, escaping with a clean scorecard despite only hitting seven fairways. Her approach game has been spectacular though as she hit 16 greens on Friday after 17 on Thursday.
Kim highlighted in her post-round interviews that because of the warmer conditions and lower winds, she could attack more pins Friday, which clearly worked to her advantage as she had two less putts in the second round.
Kim is looking for her 14th LPGA Tour win, which would tie her with Brooke Henderson for fourth most wins by full-time active players, behind Lydia Ko, Nelly Korda and Jin Young Ko.
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