Ryu joins Park, Henderson in Women’s PGA lead

KILDEER, Illinois: Ryu So-yeon celebrated her 28th birthday with a scrappy three-under-par 69 that lifted her into a three-way tie for the halfway lead at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship outside Chicago on Friday.

Ryu joined South Korean compatriot Park Sung-hyun (72) and Canadian Brooke Henderson (71) at six-under 138 here at Kemper Lakes.

They headed Spaniard Carlota Ciganda (69) by one stroke, while New Zealander Lydia Ko matched the best score of the week (66) to vault within two shots.

Danielle Kang (69) had moved two shots of the lead before a pair of bogeys on her final three holes left her four back.

Ryu finished with three birdies in the final five holes to catch Park, who faltered with a bogey at her 16th hole, the par-five seventh.

Park’s second shot from more than 200 yards landed pin high but took a huge bounce over the green, from where she hit a poor chip that almost trickled into a water hazard on the other side.