'Proud of two straight bogey-free rounds,' says leader; Seo Kyo-rim moves into share of second with fifth win in sight

Hong Jin-young tees off on the first hole during the second round of the KLPGA Tour KB Financial Golden Life Championship at Blackstone Golf Club Icheon in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, on Friday. [KLPGA]
Hong Jin-young tees off on the first hole during the second round of the KLPGA Tour KB Financial Golden Life Championship at Blackstone Golf Club Icheon in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, on Friday. [KLPGA]

Hong Jin-young held the lead for a second straight day at the KB Financial Golden Life Championship, the third major of the KLPGA Tour season, which carries a purse of 1.5 billion won ($1.12 million).

Playing at Blackstone Golf Club Icheon (par 72) in Icheon, Gyeonggi Province, on Friday, Hong carded a 2-under-par 70 in the second round, posting two birdies with no bogeys.

Having opened with a bogey-free 5-under-par 67 in round one, Hong sits atop the leaderboard at 7-under-par 137 through 36 holes. She is chasing her first win since joining the full KLPGA Tour in 2022.

Starting from the first hole, Hong drained a birdie putt of nearly 3 meters on the par-4 eighth hole, then kept making pars before sinking a putt of just over 8 meters for another birdie on the par-4 14th.

"My tee shots often missed the fairway and found the rough or bunkers, so there were plenty of tough spots, but I'm proud of getting through each one with bogey-free play two days in a row," Hong said. "Staying mentally sharp over the final two rounds is what matters most. I'll focus on keeping my putting touch calm and steady through the weekend."

Seo Kyo-rim, who leads the season's player-of-the-year points standings with 519 points and ranks second in prize money at 1.32 billion won, carded one double bogey and four birdies for a 2-under round Friday, joining Park Bo-gyeom and Choi Ga-bin in a share of second place at 5-under-par 139.

"On the 10th hole, my tee shot went into a bunker and then my second shot unexpectedly curled hard to the left," Seo said. "Still, I'm happy I picked up three birdies down the stretch. Over the final two rounds I'll play flexibly — when chances come, I'll make sure to take them."

Bang Sin-sil is in fifth place at 4-under-par 140, and Han Jin-sun is sixth at 2-under-par 142. Choi Ye-rim, who claimed her first career win on the full tour at last week's OK Savings Bank Utman Open, finished the second round in a share of seventh at 1-under-par 143.

Kim Min-sol, who has three wins this season and is locked in a tight race with Seo for the player-of-the-year and prize-money titles, dropped two strokes Friday and barely made the cut, finishing in a share of 58th at 6-over-par 150.


yjc@heraldcorp.com