South Korea’s Jang, Park share lead in Taiwan

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TAIPEI: South Korea’s Jang Ha-Na and Park Hee-Young each shot their second consecutive three-under-par 69 on Friday to share the halfway lead in the second round of the LPGA Taiwan Championship.

Jang and Park battled windy and rainy conditions to move to the top of the leaderboard after they tied for the fifth with three others in the opening round at Miramar Golf and Country Club in New Taipei City.

Park is aiming for the third win of her career and the first since the 2013 Manulife Financial LPGA Classic.

“I expect a lot of rain, so I had practice – it’s about just one week – but I had a lot of practice with the trajectory, different kind of shot from the range, which is a lot of help this week also,” said Park.

“So that’s why I hit it a lot close today even with the wind and the rain,” said Park, who scored four birdies against one bogey to lead at 6-under with a two-day total of 138.

South Korean Ryu So-Yeon, China’s Feng Shanshan, Lee-Anne Pace of South Africa and Canada’s Brooke Henderson (CAN) tied in third place with one shot back.

Overnight leader Sakura Yokomine of Japan slipped to tenth place after hitting a disappointing three-over-par 75 to tie with seven others.

Defending champion Lydia Ko of New Zealand was tied for 18th at 1-under with a two-day total of 144