Williamsburg, VA – Ariya Jutanugarn recovered from a slow start to card an even-par 71 on Friday and maintain the lead at the Kingsmill Championship.
Jutanugarn, who is playing this event on a sponsor's exemption, finished two rounds at Kingsmill Resort & Spa at 7-under-par 135.
Stacy Lewis and Angela Stanford each shot a 3-under 68 to sit in a tie for second place at 6-under.
Sandra Gal (69), Suzann Pettersen (69) and Cristie Kerr (71) share fourth at minus-5, while world No. 6 So Yeon Ryu (71) highlights a group of players tied for seventh at 4-under.
Lewis and Stanford teed off with the early wave and held the clubhouse lead prior to Jutanugarn hitting the course with the second-to-last group.
The 17-year-old opened with a bogey at the 10th, her first, and parred the next five holes before tripping to back-to-back bogeys at the 16th and 17th to fall further down the leaderboard.
But she then steadied herself during her inward nine, starting with her first birdie of the day at the third.
Another birdie at the fifth brought her back into a tie for the lead with Lewis and Stanford, but it would not be for long as Jutanugarn regained her place atop the leaderboard with a birdie at the seventh.
She ended her up-and-down round with two straight pars to hang on to the lead.
"I hit my irons very good, my driver is like perfect, so I just want to try to fix my putting," said Jutanugarn. "After the front nine, my putting got better, but I still missed a lot of short putts."
Earlier in the day, Stanford started on the back nine and quickly got on the board with a birdie at the 11th and after parring the next three holes, she birdied the 15th to move to 5-under.
She then opened her inward nine with a bogey at the first, but recovered with a birdie at the third and picked up another shot at the seventh to move to 6- under.
Stanford closed with back-to-back pars at the eighth and ninth to stay there.
"I know I wanted to hit it as good as I hit it yesterday, but yesterday I was sad I left some out there," Stanford said after her round. "I felt like I got the most out of today."
Lewis opened with a birdie at the first, but gave that shot back with a bogey at the fourth.
She would not drop another shot for the rest of her round, however, and capped a string of four straight pars from the fifth with a birdie at the ninth to hit the turn at 4-under.
The world No. 2 later birdied the 13th and 15th to join Stanford atop the leaderboard and closed with three straight pars.
"Definitely would have liked to have made a few more putts, but I think I'm in a really good spot going into the weekend," Lewis said.
NOTES: Jin Young Pak and Jennifer Song withdrew during the second round ... The cut was set at 3-over-par 145, with 78 players advancing to the weekend ... Defending champion Jiyai Shin carded a 1-over 72 on Friday and sits in a tie for 27th place at even-par 142.
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