Lauren Coughlin surges through gusty round for a 5-shot lead at Shadow Creek

Lauren Coughlin continued her strong play at Shadow Creek even in windy conditions that played havoc with the second-round scores at the Aramco Championship to shoot a 3-under 69 and open a five-shot lead.

Coughlin was 8 under. Hyo Joo Kim kept alive her hopes for a third straight LPGA Tour tournament victory, shooting 73 to match Leona Maguire (71) at 3 under.

Coughlin entered the day in a three-way tie for the lead after opening with a 67, but now has created clear separation. She nearly won here last year when it was a match-play event before falling to Madelene Sagstrom in the final pairing.

Now Coughlin is close again. Even with a sizable lead, though, she isn’t ready to celebrate. “There is a lot of golf to be played,” Coughlin said. “As you can see, you can make big numbers really easily. So just try to stick to what I’ve been doing the last two days and see what happens.”

Wind gusts of 20 mph and higher made for a difficult round. A day after 26 players posted red numbers, that total was 11 on Friday, making the picturesque but demanding course almost hidden from the lights of the Las Vegas Strip even more difficult.

“It’s almost bordering on a US Open-style setup,” Maguire said. “You see how few people are under par. It feels a little bit like a major without being a major.”

Miyu Yamashita got to experience that full effect. Sitting at 5 under with two holes to play, she went in the water on the par-3 17th and then took three shots to get on the green. The triple bogey put her at 2 under with second-ranked Nelly Korda (74) and Nanna Koerstz Madsen (70).

Korda, who won this event two years ago, struggled over the final nine in the second round. She bogeyed two holes and had a double on the par-4 first.

The top 20 players in the world signed up for the Aramco Championship, no doubt attracted to the $4 million purse in the first year that this tournament is strictly stroke play. This event is co-sanctioned with the Ladies European Tour.

Coughlin birdied Nos. 7, 8, 10 and 12, holing a 50-foot putt on No. 8. But she bogeyed the par-4 14th and 15th to halt her momentum and bring her back to the field. Coughlin then rolled in a 25-foot putt on the par-5 16th for an especially timely birdie.

“Yeah, definitely kind of helped smooth things out there towards the end,” Coughlin said. “Felt like I was playing well, especially those two holes before that. I think the easiest way to describe this golf course, especially when it gets windy, it’s so easy to make bogey. One little thing and you’re making bogey. Maybe even worse.”

Amelia Garvey made the largest leap, answering an opening 79 with a 69 even with a triple bogey on the par-3 17th. That got her to 4 over, enough to make the cut of 7 over.

“I actually played really well yesterday,” Garvey said. “I just couldn’t putt. Was putting a bit like Stevie Wonder out there.”