Ko surges into contention with strong second round

Lydia Ko birdied the first hole and just kept rolling from there — all the way into contention for another major victory.

Ko shot a 6- under 66 on Friday in the second round of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship to move two strokes off the lead.

The 21- year- old New Zealander shook off an opening 74 at Kemper Lakes in Kildeer to reach 4 under and give herself a shot to win her third major title.

“Straight out of the gate, I was able to make a birdie on the first, and that gave me the confidence to say, ‘ Hey, you can make a birdie around this golf course,’ ” Ko said. “I played solid. I know I missed a few fairways, but I tried to put myself in good positions.”

First- round leader Sung Hyun Park ( 72), 2016 winner Brooke Henderson ( 71) and So Yeon Ryu ( 69) were tied for the lead at 6- under 138.

Carlota Ciganda ( 69) was one stroke back, with Ko, Moriya Jutanugarn ( 72) and Annie Park ( 69) at 4 under in the third of the LPGA Tour’s five majors.

Michelle Wie ( 74) was 1 over. Topranked Inbee Park ( 76) missed the cut at 5- over 149.

Ko’s opening 74 left her simply hoping to make the cut. But now, she has a chance to win another major to go with the 2015 Evian Championship and 2016 ANA Inspiration.

“I think I had a bit of confidence coming into this week because of the two top- 10 finishes these couple weeks, and I felt like Iwas driving it pretty good and rolling it good,” Ko said. “And I was able to do one of the two things [ Thursday] and one of the two today, so hopefully I’ll be able to put it a bit more together over the weekend. But I think confidence is a huge thing for me, where the swing itself is not too different.”

She seemed pretty comfortable on a day when the temperature hit the low 90s. The scorching heat combined with a breeze to help dry a course hit hard by rain this week.

It made for faster greens, which certainly didn’t hurt Ko’s short game.

She started the round on a strong note with birdies on four of the first nine holes and three in a row on the back, starting with a 20- foot putt on the par- 5 11th. She followed that with a neat one on the par- 4 No. 12, when her shot from the rough bounced off the stick and into the cup.

Ryu, the 2011 U. S. Women’s Open and 2017 ANA Inspiration champion, did her best to keep up, playing in a group with Ko. She finished with birdies on three of the final five holes.

“It’s going to be nice and quiet for the celebration,” said Ryu, who’s planning to spend it with her mom and sister, who recently got a job in Chicago. “Hopefully, all that happy energy could [ carry over] to the golf course for the next two days.”