Lauren Coughlin surges through gusty round for a 5-shot lead at Shadow Creek
NORTH LAS VEGAS, Nev. (AP) — Lauren Coughlin continued her strong play at Shadow Creek even in windy conditions Friday that played havoc with the second-round scores at the Aramco Championship to shoot a 3-under 69 and open a five-shot lead. Coughlin was 8 under.
Hyo Joo Kim kept alive her hopes for a third straight LPGA Tour tournament victory, shooting 73 to match Leona Maguire (71) at 3 under. Coughlin entered the day in a three-way tie for the lead after opening with a 67 , but now has created clear separation. She nearly won here last year when it was a match-play event before falling to Madelene Sagstrom in the final pairing.
Now Coughlin is close again. Even with a sizable lead, though, she isn't ready to celebrate. “There is a lot of golf to be played,” Coughlin said.
“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. ” Wind gusts of 20 mph and higher made for a difficult round.
A day after 26 players posted red numbers, that total was 11 on Friday, making the picturesque but demanding course almost hidden from the lights of the Las Vegas Strip even more difficult. “It’s almost bordering on a U. S.