Stacy Lewis In the Zone in Thailand

By Elizabeth Bethel | Feb 27, 2015

Aug 17, 2013; Parker, CO, USA; Stacy Lewis of team U.S. tees off from the first hole during the final round of the 2013 Solheim Cup at the Colorado Golf Club. Mandatory Credit: Ron Chenoy-USA TODAY Sports

Stacy Lewis opened up her lead during the 2nd round of the Honda LPGA Thailand, carding a blemish-free 8-under 64 and setting herself up to go into the weekend with a 3-shot edge over Amy Yang, her closest challenger. Lewis has put herself in a fine position now to take a run at her 12th career victory and her first since last year at the WalMart NW Arkansas Championship.

. . . midway through the front nine there [I] kind of caught fire with the putter and started hitting some shots close. . . -Stacy Lewis

Unlike

Yani Tseng

, who couldn’t seem to hit a ball straight, Lewis just couldn’t miss. She hit 13 fairways and got to 17 greens in regulation; and although she used a few more putts than yesterday — 29 as compared to 24 to play the first round — she didn’t give back any shots. I haven’t seen that level of play from Lewis since last summer!

Lewis’s first round competition, Tseng and Brittany Lang, couldn’t keep up the pace. Tseng evened out her bogeys with birdies and goes into the weekend exactly where she ended the first round, at 6-under par. Lang was doing the same thing — balancing bogeys with birdies — until she ran into a particularly nasty snag and walked away from the par-4 11th with a double that will take her into the weekend at 5-under and trailing Lewis by 9 shots.

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Chasing Lewis

Amy Yang, however, carded a 6-under 66 to end her day at 11-under and in hot pursuit of Lewis. If her putts keep dropping — Yang shaved three putts off her game today and made her way around the Siam Country Club track with an economical 25 putts — Yang could easily close the 3-shot gap that separates her from Lewis and the top of the leaderboard.

Amy Yang.

Yang, the 2013 LPGA KEB-HanaBank champion, recorded top-10 finishes last year at the Kraft Nabisco Championship and the US Women’s Open, and she’s having a strong start to her 2015 season. Ranked 16th by Rolex, Yang finished just inside the top-20 at the Pure Silk-Bahamas LPGA Classic and followed that with a strong runner-up finish to Lydia Ko’s victory at the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open last week. She relentless, tenacious and can be deadly accurate.

Ariya Jutanugarn

Amy Yang isn’t Lewis’s only concern. Ariya Jutanugarn, Mirim Lee, Carolina Masson and Jenny Shin are bunched up together at 8-under and sharing the third slot on the board. With 36 holes of golf still to be played, those six shots that separate Lewis from this gang don’t look like such a great distance.

Masson and Shin had particularly good 2nd rounds They both carded 66. Another low round tomorrow would put either of them into immediate contention with Lewis for the top of the board.

Media Coverage

Golf Channel will provide 3rd and 4th round coverage of the Honda LPGA Classic from 1-5am, Saturday, February 28 and Sunday, March 1. There does not appear to be a re-broadcast of the Saturday round scheduled. The Sunday round will be re-air on Monday, March 2, 11am-1pm. All times are ET.

Ladies Dream Golf will host a Google+ Post-Tournament Hangout at 6pm ET Sunday. Follow this link for additional information.

Follow me on Twitter @bethbethel and I’ll notify you when I publish updates and commentary.

Next: Stacy Lewis Starts Hot in Thailand