Minjee Lee grabs lead at BMW Ladies Championship

Australia's Minjee Lee battled swirling winds Friday to grab a two-stroke lead through 36 holes at the BMW Ladies Championship in Gyeonggi-do, Republic of Korea.

Moving to 11-under with a 3-under 69 that featured four birdies and one bogey, Lee leads at the midway point for the 11th time in her LPGA Tour career. It's her lowest 36-hole score since winning the 2022 US Women's Open.

First-round leader Ashleigh Buhai of South Africa (73 on Friday) and Alison Lee (72) are two shots back at 9-under entering the weekend at Seowon Hills at Seowon Valley Country Club.

Minjee Lee birdied both par-5 holes on the back nine at Nos. 11 and 15, reaching the green in two at the latter. She capped her round with another birdie at the 18th.

"Obviously the par-5s, a couple of them, you can really be quite aggressive," she said. "... I just tried to take as much advantage as I could when the wind was behind us. And obviously the birdie on 18 was just like cherry on top. So it was nice to finish on a good note."

Minjee Lee, 27, said it would be special to win in the country where both her parents were born.

"I have a really deep heritage here. So I always love coming back and playing," she said. "Being at the top of the leaderboard is always nice, and being in contention is always my goal. So hopefully I can have a great weekend."

Buhai was at 13-under through 12 holes before closing with four bogeys on the final six holes, including three in a row at Nos. 13-15.

"I think that is one of the toughest days I've ever had on a golf course in terms of the wind switching," Buhai said. "I've never played any round where the wind just switched that much."

Defending champion Lydia Ko of Australia (69) and South Koreans Jeongeun Lee6 (68) and Hae Ran Ryu (71) are tied for fourth and three shots back of the leader.

Last week's Buick LPGA Shanghai winner Angel Yin is tied with China's Yan Liu at 7-under, with Nelly Korda, France's Celine Boutier and England's Jodi Ewart Shadoff sitting in a tie for ninth at 6-under.

Rolex Rankings No 1 Lilia Vu closed with a double bogey on No 18 to settle for a second-round 76 and a tie for 57th at 1-over.