Diaz remains on top in Ohio
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Sylvania, OH (SportsNetwork.com) - Laura Diaz carded a 2-under 69 on Friday to remain on top of the leaderboard after two rounds of the Marathon Classic.
Diaz finished 36 holes at Highland Meadows Golf Club at 11-under-par 131. She is seeking her third career win on the LPGA Tour, but first since 2002.
Lydia Ko shot her second straight 4-under 67 to move into a share of second place with Lee-Anne Pace (68) at minus-8.
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Rebecca Lee-Bentham (67) and 2012 winner So Yeon Ryu (67) are tied for fourth at 7-under, while Brittany Lang (66) and Kayla Mortellaro (67) shared sixth at 6-under.
Defending champion Beatriz Recari (68) is among a group of seven players tied for 14th place at 4-under 138.
Diaz opened her round with five straight pars before tripping to a bogey at the first. That dropped her to 8-under for the tournament and into a tie for the lead with Ko and Pace, who both played in the morning.
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Diaz parred her next six holes to remain there before pouring in birdies at the 13th, 15th and 16th around a bogey at the 14th to reclaim the outright lead at 10-under.
She would then close her round with another gain at the 18th to claim a 3- stroke lead heading into the weekend.
"For me, it was just a challenge because I haven't been in this position in a very long time. For sure I haven't had cameras on me in a long time," Diaz said. "So I was anxious for them to go away I think in a funny kind of way."
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Ko started her round on the back nine and parred her first two holes before converting three birdies in a 4-hole stretch from the 12th to jump to 7-under.
She later rolled in another birdie at the second to reach minus-8. Ko would trade a bogey at the fourth with a birdie at the fifth to remain there before closing her round with four straight pars.
"I had two solid rounds. I thought I played pretty solid today and yesterday," Ko said. "Hopefully I can continue that through the weekend."
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Pace birdied the first, but gave that shot right back with a bogey at the second. After parring her next three holes, she rolled in birdies at the sixth, seventh and ninth to make the turn at 8-under.
Bogeys at the 11th and 15th dropped her back to minus-6, but she bounced back with consecutive birdies at the 17th and 18th to finish at minus-8.
Lee-Bentham was the only player in the morning to reach Diaz's overnight lead as she recorded six birdies over her first 11 holes to reach 9-under, but she closed her round with bogeys at the third and seventh to fall behind.
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NOTES: Diaz collected both of her wins in 2002 at the Welch's/Circle K Championship and LPGA Corning Classic ... Diaz has also held the 36-hole lead at this event in 2002, 2003 and 2009. Her best finish in those years was a tie for third in 2002 ... Diaz's last top-10 finish came at the 2010 LPGA Tour Championship ... The cut line fell at 1-over 143, with 77 players advancing to the weekend. Among those to miss the cut were Michelle Wie, Angela Stanford, Gerina Piller and Azahara Munoz.