Lauren Coughlin was one of just two players to break 70 on a windy Friday at the Aramco Championship in Las Vegas, and she opened a five-shot lead at the tournament’s midpoint.
The University of Virginia product carded a 3-under-par 69 at Shadow Creek Golf Course, leaving her at 8-under 136.
Ireland’s Leona Maguire shot 71 in the second round to end in a tie for second with South Korea’s Hyo Joo Kim, the world’s third-ranked player, who had a 73 on Friday. Both are at 3 under.
First-round co-leader Miyu Yamashita of Japan (second-round 75), Denmark’s Nanna Koerstz Madsen (70) and world No. 3 Nelly Korda (74) are tied for fourth at 2 under.
Canada’s Anna Huang (71), Japan’s Akie Iwai (71), Angel Yin (71) and Jing Yan (75) are all at 1 under, sharing seventh place.
Japan’s Nasa Hataoka, who was tied atop the leaderboard with Coughlin and Yamashita following the first round, stumbled to a 78 and is tied for 15th at 1 over.
The inaugural Aramco Championship, co-sanctioned by the LPGA and Ladies European Tour, features a purse of $4 million and replaces the T-Mobile Match Play on the schedule.
Coughlin’s round featured six birdies and three bogeys. After a bogey at No. 6, Coughlin began a run that featured four birdies and two pars.
“From there I kind of started to play really, really good,” she said. It was really difficult out there. The wind was kind of swirling at times and a lot of crosswinds, is it hurting or helping. Very difficult. The greens firmed up as they do in the afternoon, especially with the wind.”
Coughlin recorded both of her LPGA Tour wins in 2024. She currently has the largest lead of her career after any round since her victory at the Women’s Scottish Open two years ago.
“There is a lot of golf to be played. As you can see, you can make big numbers really easily. So just try to stick to what I’ve been doing the last two days and see what happens.”
Maguire had three birdies and three bogeys on the day before she birdied the par-5 18th hole.
“Going out, I think we knew it was going to be tough,” Maguire said. “Obviously a lot windier, different wind than we got all week as well, which made some holes play quite a bit longer. We knew we were going to get the firmer end of the greens this afternoon, so just a case of staying extremely patient.”
Kim logged a double bogey on the par-4 sixth hole in an up-and-down round that began and ended with a birdie.
