England’s Charley Hull shot a 4-under-par 66 on Friday and moved out to a two-shot lead at 10-under par through the midway point of The Annika at Belleair, Fla.
Nelly Korda was alone in second place at 8 under after her second consecutive 66, while a four-way tie for third place at 7 under included Alexa Pano (64), South Korea’s Jin Hee Im (65) and Mi Hyang Lee (68) and Thailand’s Wichanee Meechai (66).
Hull was tied for the lead after the opening round with South Korea’s Hiwon Jeon and moved her way alone into the top spot with five birdies on Friday to counter a bogey 5 at the fifth hole.
Hull had birdies on three of the first five holes on the back nine and then finished with four pars to hold the solo lead after 36 holes for just the fourth time in her LPGA career.
“It is quite a short golf course, so you have a lot of wedges coming in,” Hull said about the 6,349-yard Pelican Golf Club course. “You have to be quite accurate with your shots, and the greens are super-fast. It’s a good, fun course to play.”
Hull has not won on the LPGA Tour for two years, but is coming off a win last week on the Ladies European Tour. She hit 12 of 14 fairways in the second round and 15 of the 18 greens with 29 putts.
Korda, a two-time winner of The Annika, was at 3 under for the tournament with a bogey at No. 10, which was her first hole of the second round. But the No. 1 ranked player in the world finished her day by going 5 under over her final 14 holes, including consecutive birdies to finish her round.
“I’m just comfortable,” the Florida native Korda said about playing at Pelican. “I think playing in front of my family, too, so close to home, that is also a reason why I feel comfortable out here. And then the more you play it, the more you realize the subtle breaks on the greens, so you kind of learn time after time.
“But, even with it being windy, tough conditions, I just know the holes where you kind of have to be safe and the holes where you can be a little bit more aggressive.”
Korda has posted a round in the 60s during 12 of the 13 rounds she has played at The Annika. She won the tournament in 2021 and 2022.
Pano stormed into contention after starting the second round in a tie for 34th place.
Three members of the field were unable to finish the second round because of darkness.
With one hole remaining to complete third second rounds, Germany’s Olivia Cowan was at 3 under, Kaitlyn Papp Budde was at 2 under and the Netherlands’ Dewi Weber was at even par, just ahead of the 1-over projected cut line.
Jeon plummeted out of the top spot and into a tie for 33rd place with a 4-over 74 to sit at 2 under.
Defending champion Lilia Vu (69) is at 2 under through two rounds.
