WHITE SULPHUR SPRINGS, W.Va. — Kelly Kraft is about to find out whether he’s ready to handle the lead entering the weekend for the first time on the PGA Tour.
Kraft shot a 7-under 63 in the second round of A Military Tribute at The Greenbrier on Friday to take a one-stroke edge over first-round leader Webb Simpson and Anirban Lahiri of India.
Kraft posted his career-best round. He was at 13-under 127.
Kraft is looking to turn around a season that has included missed cuts in seven of his 10 previous tournaments, including last week at the Quicken Loans National. But he has had some success in West Virginia, where he tied for fifth last year.
“I’ve kind of changed my attitude a little bit starting with last week,” Kraft said. “I just feel like I’m ready to keep playing good.”
Kraft made four birdies on the front nine and didn’t let a bogey on the par-5 12th hole derail him. He added birdies on the next two holes and took the lead with a 6-foot birdie putt on the par-4 16th.
Reminded that it’s his first time leading a PGA Tour event after 36 holes, Kraft said he was confident.
LPGA: Sei Young Kim birdied her first four holes to shoot a 7-under 65 and surge to the lead after the second round of the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic at Oneida, Wisconsin.
Kim was at 16-under 128 – tied for the tour’s lowest of the season – and four shots ahead of Yu Liu.
Jump-started by an eagle on the par-5 third, Liu made a big move with the day’s best round with a 63 to get to 12 under and grab sole possession of second place.
Defending champion Katherine Kirk, who led after shooting 10-under 62 in the first round, couldn’t get her putting going and settled for 71. She is one of the five players who are five shots off the pace at 133.
Sung Hyun Park, who won her second career major at last week’s KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and could have moved to No. 1 in the world rankings with a win, missed the cut by five shots at 1-over 145.
EUROPEAN TOUR: Ryan Fox of New Zealand, Matthieu Pavon of France and Dutch golfer Erik van Rooyen shared the lead after the second round of the Irish Open at Donegal, Ireland, and Danny Willett’s return to form catapulted him into contention.
Willett reached a career-high ranking of ninth after claiming his first major title at the 2016 U.S. Masters, but slumped to 442nd after missing his ninth cut in 12 events at last week’s French Open.
Willett, a 30-year-old Englishman, added a 2-under 70 to his opening 68 to lie two shots behind Fox (69), Pavon (68) and Van Rooyen (65).
Joakim Lagergren is one off the lead on 7 under, with Willett joined on 6 under by Sam Horsfield and Zander Lombard. Lee Westwood is on 5 under, and Rory McIlroy is seven off the pace after a disappointing 73.
“It’s tough to see somebody that good struggle for that amount of time but today was the Danny Willett of old,” Ryder Cup captain Thomas Bjorn said.
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