YVINS, Utah – Harlan Liu tried to turn to the fairway instead of black lava rocks framing them. On Friday, he once again got his advantage with a 5-under 67, which gave him a two-shot lead over the weekend at the Black Desert Championship.
Ryu missed only two fairways and three greens on 36 holes with Tom Weiskopf design.
With nine birds off the start, Ryu was more than one out of four holes when the fifth birdie sent her halfway through. Her round included chip-in birdies and highlights of her day. The par 5 9-foot hybrid got caught up in five feet for me.
She was 14 under 130, with Somi Lee two shots playing bogey-free in her second straight round of 66. Lee went 26 holes without a bogey.
Another shot behind was German Estelle Hensleit, a Korean with 68, Subin Joo, a 20-year-old Korean who opened 11 holes to make two pars, followed by seven straight pars. It was added to the 68, followed by a round that led her at one point, followed by a clear idea of how she would spend the rest of her afternoon.
“I’m going straight to my room. I’m pretty tired right now,” Ju said. “To be honest, my legs started to convulse at 18. That’s my first lead. And while I had so much fun, I think I’m going to get a good rest, clean my mind and get ready for the weekend.”
Black Dessert is the only course to host PGA and LPGA Tour events, with Matt McCarty winning last fall. Utah has not seen the top tour in about 60 years.
Ryu played par 5 only at 1 under during the opening round, when two shots played in the afternoon on Friday.
“I played in the morning yesterday, so it was a little cold and the drive was a little less than today,” she said. “So I played this afternoon and got a little shorter club for my second shot.”
Ariya Jutanugarn and Weiling Hsu each shot 70, with a 10 under 134.
Former women’s British Open champion Shibuno shot a 65 and returned to the mix, then back to the big group five shots.
This is a frank leaderboard for black desserts, with the top 10 players represented by seven countries, but this did not include the US. Kristen Gilman and Andrea Lee were low Americans, with six shots behind.