2024 CME Group Tour Championship: Angel Yin holds lead

After LPGA Tour stars Nelly Korda and Charley Hull came off their six-under-par morning rounds at the CME Group Tour Championship, the rest of the field struggled to match their pace as conditions toughened at Tiburón Golf Club.

Throughout the day, the wind picked up, and the greens and fairways firmed, leading to a low-scoring second round, which saw an overall scoring average of 71.74 on Friday, nearly two strokes higher than Thursday’s average. Those starting their day in the afternoon saw the worst of it, with all eight players who started the round at tied third or tied fifth shooting an over-par score.

Teeing off in the last group of the day, Angel Yin is the only one of that group who managed to record an under-par score on day two in Naples. She shot a three-under-par 69 despite the difficult conditions and moved from solo second after round one to solo first after the second day of play at the CME Group Tour Championship.

Yin started her day with a birdie on the second hole but, similar to her Thursday round, she again made two early bogeys to drop her back to one-over for the round.

From there, she made few mistakes, picking up birdies on six and nine to make the turn at eight-under-par. She added another birdie on 11 and then another on 13 thanks to a 12-foot putt that Yin mashed straight into the cup. She sank an eight-footer for birdie on 15 to take a three-shot lead, but Yin made her third bogey of the day on 16 to move her back to 10-under. A lengthy par putt on 17 kept her at 10-under heading to the final hole at Tiburón Golf Club, where she made another par to finish the day with a two-shot lead.

Watch highlights from round two of the CME Group Tour Championship

“Well, what's been working is Michelle, who is my caddie, who can read the greens…I've always had a really tough time reading greens here, even though I've been living in Florida since 2018. It's just really rough for me because I grew up in California and it's Poa and bent and all that stuff.  So these greens are always rough, and with her help, I've been able to get a few lines in…,” said Yin about her round, adding later, “I'm playing good too.  Even though I'm not hitting it the best I want to, I was hitting it better three weeks ago.  But if I can play well like this and if I hit it any a little bit better it's going to be better.”

Koreans Hye-Jin Choi and Narin An, the latter of whom was the first-round leader, sit in second and third, respectively. Choi followed her first-round 68 with another on Friday, going bogey-free during the second round, an impressive feat achieved by just four players on Friday. An shot an even-par 72 during the second round, but she still remains near the top of the leaderboard thanks to her first-round 64.

Nelly Korda four shots back

Rolex Women’s World Golf Ranking No. 1 Korda also went bogey-free on Friday, jumpstarting her six-under effort with a hole-out eagle from the rough on the par-4 3rd hole. She made four birdies from there while playing alongside U.S. Solheim Cup teammate Lexi Thompson, who shot a four-under 68 on Friday to sit at three-under overall. Korda began the day at even par after struggling through her afternoon round on Thursday and now sits within four shots of the lead with 36 holes to play at the CME Group Tour Championship.

“I just couldn't find the center of the club face yesterday, and there was something going on with my backswing that I couldn't figure out, couldn't get a feel for,” said Korda of her first round. “When it gets a little windy, it's harder. It sways you around a little bit more. So, on top of that, it was just harder to find something out there. Thankfully, I have a great group of people around me and found a simple feel to go into today. Hopefully, I can keep progressing with that.”

Korda is in a tie for fourth heading into Moving Day alongside Jeeno Thitikul and Ruoning Yin, who both went bogey-free on Friday, defending champion Amy Yang and Japan’s Ayaka Furue, who is in the running to win the Vare Trophy at the end of this week. Hull, who shot a 6-under with six birdies on the front nine alone, is tied for ninth at five-under overall after her first-round 73.

View the full 2024 CME Group Tour Championship leaderboard here.