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Inbee Park and Stacy Lewis, former No. 1s, top Olympic leader board
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American Stacy Lewis hasn’t won in more than two years, a winless streak in a position to fall by virtue of the eight-under par 63 she shot in the second round of the women’s Olympic golf competition on Thursday.
Lewis completed 36 holes on the Olympic Golf Course in Rio de Janeiro at nine-under par 133 and trails leader Inbee Park of Korea by a stroke. Two strokes back of Park are Great Britain’s Charley Hull and Canadian Brooke Henderson.
Lewis’ last victory came in the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship in June of 2014, and she’s finished second 11 times since then.
Park, who like Lewis is a former No. 1 in the Rolex Rankings, birdied three of her last four holes to shoot a second consecutive five-under par 66.
“Yesterday, my ball striking was very solid,” she said of her opening round of Today I made a couple of mistakes on my tee shots but was able to convert them into birdies,” Park said.
First-round leader Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand shot an even-par 71, six shots worse than her opening round of 65 and fell to a tie for seventh, three strokes back of Lewis.
Henderson, 18, the winner of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship earlier this year, made a significant move up the leaderboard, shooting a seven-under 64.
Lewis’ U.S. teammates, Gerina Piller and Lexi Thompson, posted scores of 67 and 71, resepctively. Piller is tied for eighth, four shots back of Park. Thompson is tied for 22nd, seven back.