Spain's Carlota Ciganda and South Korea's Hye-Jin Choi each had 5-under-par rounds on Friday to forge a four-way tie atop the second-day leaderboard at the Meijer LPGA Classic in Belmont, Mich.
They are tied with France's Celine Boutier, who carded a 4-under-par 68 for the second straight day, and Australia's Karis Davidson (70) at 8-under 136 for the tournament.
Ciganda, who failed to make the cut at last week's U.S. Women's Open, shook off a slow start with three pars and a bogey, then scored three birdies over her next five holes. She then went on a hot streak with three consecutive birdies over her back nine and an additional birdie two holes later.
"I hit it pretty close and made a couple good putts that gave me confidence," Ciganda said. "Yeah, I felt pretty good out there."
She finished her day with par-bogey-par to complete an up-and-down day that was very much more up than down.
I always feel comfortable on this golf course. I enjoy coming here and I seem to do well here.
Choi, by comparison, was the picture of consistency, suffering a single bogey on the par-3 11th. Beyond that, she was at or under par on every hole, netting birdies on Holes 1, 4, 6, 8, 16 and 18.
Despite 23 top 10 finishes, Choi, 25, is still seeking her first career win.
"Today my goal for the round was to be bogey-free, and I tried to stay very calm during the round, so it was a good round today," Choi said.
The highly accomplished Boutier (six LPGA wins) finished far out of the running in a tie for 53rd at this event last season. But she's been consistently strong this time around, recording seven birdies with three bogeys to shoot 68 for two consecutive days.
"For the past few weeks my game has been pretty solid," Boutier said. "I just feel like it's coming together kind of slowly, so hopefully a few good results here and there will help me build some momentum."
Davidson, 26, shares the lead thanks to a scorching opening round featuring six birdies and no bogeys. In pursuit of her first career win, she added three birdies and a bogey on Friday.
"I think this is the first time I've been tied for first in an LPGA event after two rounds, so, yeah, I'm just really excited that I wasn't fighting for the cut," Davidson said. "It was a bit of a different feeling out there."
A staggering 20 golfers are within three strokes of the leaders. Six golfers are a single stroke back: Denmark's Nanna Koerstz Madsen (68), Lexi Thompson (69), Amanda Doherty (69), England's Bronte Law (69), Australia's Minjee Lee (70) and Paraguay's Sofia Garcia (71).
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