Sylvania, OH – Alison Walshe carded a 2-under 69 on Friday to maintain a share of the lead at the Marathon Classic.
Beatriz Recari, who won the Kia Classic in March, fired a 6-under 65 and Paula Creamer shot a 3-under 68 during their second rounds at Highland Meadows Golf Club to meet Walshe atop the leaderboard at 8-under-par 134.
"It played a little bit harder out there today," Creamer said about the conditions. "You know, the breeze definitely was picking up.���I know in the morning it was pretty dead yesterday. A little bit of breeze in the afternoon. But it was a different golf course today. It was getting a little bit firmer and some of the pin placements were a little tougher than they were yesterday, so a little bit harder to get close to the hole."
Jacqui Concolino birdied two of her last three holes to close out a 3-under 68 and move into sole possession of fourth place at 7-under 135.
Inbee Park (69), a six-time winner this season, 16-year-old amateur Lydia Ko (67) and Chie Arimura (67) shared fifth at 6-under.
Recari was the first of the co-leaders to hit the course and opened with a pair of pars before reeling off three birdies in a four-hole stretch from the third to move to 5-under.
She opened her back nine with back-to-back bogeys at the 10th and 11th to fall to 3-under, but quickly got those strokes right back with consecutive gains at the 12th and 13th.
The Spaniard then holed out her second shot at the par-4 15th for an eagle and followed that with a birdie at the 16th to reach 8-under. She parred her final two holes to grab the clubhouse lead.
"My round was really, really good," Recari said. "I started with a good par save on the first hole where I laid up. I was on the left in the rough and I had a tree blocking it, and I laid up short and good approach shots, and then a 15-footer for par. So that was good mojo and good way to start with a positive feeling."
Creamer raced out of the gate with a pair of birdies at the first and second, then followed with another gain at the seventh to make the turn at 8- under.
She fell back to 7-under with a bogey at the 11th, but rebounded with a birdie the 15th and parred out from there to join Recari at 8-under.
Walshe, who held a 1-stroke lead at the end of the first round, went out with the afternoon wave and fell three shots off the pace with a bogey at the first before moving to 7-under with back-to-back birdies at the fourth and fifth.
She traded a bogey at the ninth with a birdie at the 12th to remain a shot behind the clubhouse leaders before closing with a birdie at the last to meet the leaders.
NOTES: Creamer is seeking her first win since the 2010 U.S. Women's Open ... Walshe is in search of her first career win on the LPGA Tour ... Katherine Hull-Kirk recorded a hole-in-one on the 14th hole ... The cut line was set at 2-over-par 144, with 72 players advancing to the weekend.
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