Ryu rallies late to lead at LPGA Classic

GRAND RAPIDS, Michigan — So Yeon Ryu birdied all five par-5 holes in a 5-under 67 to take the second-round lead Friday in the Meijer LPGA Classic.

The sixth-ranked South Korean star played her final nine holes — the front nine at Blythefield Country Club — in 5-under 31 to top the leaderboard at 13-under 131. She rallied after making three bogeys in a five-hole stretch on her first nine.

“I really like with my putting stroke right now,” Ryu said. “No matter I made it or not, I feel like my stroke is really great and my rhythm’s really great. I really want to keep this tempo and rhythm. And I just need to keep working on some tee shots.”

Sandra Gal and Sakura Yokomine each shot 64 to reach 12-under. Caroline Masson (66) was 11-under, and Lee-Anne Pace (67), Anna Nordqvist (68) and Su Oh (68) followed at 10-under.

Amateur Jaclyn Lee (69) of Calgary was the top Canadian at 7-under. Hamilton’s Alena Sharp (68) and defending champion Brooke Henderson (70) of Smiths Falls, Ont., were 5-under and Quebec City’s Anne-Catharine Tanguay (69) was 2-under.

“Unfortunately, I’m not playing great golf right now,” Henderson said. “I definitely have a great game plan for this course. It worked really well last year and I just kind of have to get back to it. Just making some dumb mental mistakes.”

Ryu is winless this season after taking the major ANA Inspiration and Walmart NW Arkansas Championship last year. She has five LPGA Tour victories, the first in the 2011 U.S. Women’s Open.

“I would say more motivated to playing well,” Ryu said. “When you’re on the golf course you feel a little bit of everything, like anxious, happiness, sadness, angry, just everything. But the thing is, it is not bad to feel everything. Hopefully I can just manage all my emotions on the golf course.”