Nelly Korda hits her stride and builds 2-shot lead in Phoenix

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PHOENIX (AP) — Nelly Korda was just as good in the tougher afternoon conditions Friday, posting a 7-under 65 for the lowest 36-hole score of her LPGA Tour career and building a two-shot lead at the halfway point of the Ford Championship.

Korda missed an opportunity late to stretch her lead a little more when she missed a 2-foot birdie putt on the par-5 17th.

But this was not a day to complain on the Cattail course at Whirlwind Golf Club. She followed a great opening round — something Lydia Ko failed to do — with a steady diet of birdie chances and a smooth, confident stroke with the putter.

“I have left a couple shots out there at the end,” Korda said. “But I'm playing really solid golf, and when I do make a mistake, I try not go let it faze me too much.”

She was at 16-under 128, two shots ahead of a familiar face. Hyo Joo Kim, the defending champion in Phoenix, won last week at the Founders Cup by holding off Korda in the final hour. Korda missed a short putt on the 17th hole Sunday that thwarted hopes of a second straight win to start the year.

Kim, who opened with a 61, overcame a mistakes early to post a 69. Saturday will be the fourth straight round for Korda and Kim to play in the same group.

“Just getting sick of each other now,” Korda said with a laugh. “Yeah, she’s playing such solid golf. At the end of the day that’s something that motivates me to want to stay with her at that level. We’re just going back and forth, so it’s nice. At the end of the day we’re competitors, but we are very friendly. I’ve always enjoyed playing with her. I’m always mesmerized by her putting.”

Ko shot a 60 in morning conditions of the first round and doesn't feel as though she played that much differently — except the putts turned away at the last second or burned the edge. She made so many putts in her opening round, and only enough on Friday for a 71 that left her three shots behind along with Jenny Bae (65) and Minami Katsu (66).

The final hole summed up her day — a good drive, a good approach, and a 12-foot putt that good all the way until it peeled away to the right.

“I just didn’t really hole many putts today,” Ko said. “It’s obviously harder to get closer to the pins just playing in the afternoon and the greens being a little firmer. I think I struggled with a couple of the short ones. ... But that’s golf, right? I can’t control everything. Yesterday was I think more of the surprise I think just shooting a score like that.”

She still found herself right in the mix and Ko figures everything will balance out.

“I feel like my game is trending in the right direction,” she said.

Asterisk Talley, the 17-year-old amateur, had a 65 and was in the group six shots behind at 10 under. Talley will be going to the home of the Masters next week to compete in the Augusta National Women's Amateur, which she had a chance to win last year.

Scoring has been so good, particularly in the morning on smoother greens, that the cut came at 5-under 135. Among those missing out on the weekend were Women's British Open champion Miyu Yamashita of Japan and Lexi Thompson, making her first start of the season.

Korda won the season opener in Florida, which was cut short to 54 holes because of severe wind and cold. She skipped the Asia swing as she often does, and was runner-up to Kim last week at Sharon Heights in Northern California.

“I'm really happy where my game is at now,” Korda said.

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