Chandni Canan BauerHaeran Ryu leads the AIG Women’s Open after 36 holes, and she has done it with the sort of tidy authority that makes a difficult championship look briefly negotiable.
While major winners, Solheim Cup hopefuls and the defending champion were being escorted towards the weekend exit, the world No. 3 kept finding greens and collecting birdies.
Haeran Ryu turns control into a lead
Ryu has opened with two rounds in the 60s, producing 11 birdies — more than anyone else in the field — while hitting 31 of 36 greens in regulation. She has recorded only three bogeys or worse through two rounds. That is not merely good scoring; it is administrative efficiency with a putter.
This is her first second-round lead in a major championship, although the position itself should not feel especially foreign. Earlier this season, she was tied second after 36 holes at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and tied third at the same stage of the Amundi Evian Championship. She won both.
Her 2026 record now reads like the work of somebody who has misplaced the off switch: two victories, eight top-10 finishes from 12 starts and second place in the Race to the CME Globe. She arrived with five LPGA Tour titles and $9.9 million in official career earnings.
More pertinent to the next two days, she has never missed the cut in four AIG Women’s Open appearances.
Shiho Kuwaki keeps the pressure on
Shiho Kuwaki is second after following her opening round with a 70. Her most curious piece of symmetry came at the fourth, fifth and sixth holes, where she made birdie on Friday having birdied the same trio a day earlier.
Golfers spend years pleading for repeatability; Kuwaki appears to have taken the request literally.
The Japanese player owns five JLPGA Tour victories, though her best major finish is tied 14th at this year’s U.S. Women’s Open. She now has a weekend opportunity to improve that considerably.
Scoring was hardly being handed out in gift bags. The lowest round of the day was three under, shared by Minami Katsu, Lucy Li, Jing Yan, Nelly Korda and Auston Kim. With nobody able to bolt several shots clear in a single burst, Ryu’s steady accumulation carried extra weight.
Solheim Cup contenders caught by the cut
Sixty-eight players survived at four over or better, but the casualty list had the tone of a selection meeting gone wrong.
Helen Briem and Chiara Tamburlini, second and third in the European Solheim Cup points standings, both missed the cut before the complete European team is announced on Monday.
Georgia Hall, winner of the last AIG Women’s Open staged at Royal Lytham & St Annes, also departed.
The American losses were equally conspicuous. Lilia Vu, Andrea Lee, Jennifer Kupcho, Megan Khang, Jenny Bae and Allisen Corpuz all missed out, with the CPKC Women’s Open still to come as the final qualifying event for the U.S. Solheim Cup team.
Defending champion Miyu Yamashita also failed to reach the weekend, as did former major champion Sophia Popov, who gave birth to her second child in February.
One cut, several sizeable storylines and very little room for sentiment.
Noh finds fun, Hull ignores the noise
Yealimi Noh reached halfway tied third on five under, with a lighter frame of mind helping the golf follow.
“Yeah, for sure. My fiance and I like to play a lot of golf together as well. He played a big role for me this week just being in a better mindset. He reminded me that golf can be fun. We played a lot of fun rounds up in Washington and he helped relax a lot more and get in a good mindset.”
Charley Hull sits tied sixth on two under and dismissed any suggestion that the fallout from a prank had followed her onto the course.
“I did not, no, not think about it. What people don’t understand is mine and Adsy’s relationship. I think being British as well. Like you have banter and taking the Micky, if you get what I mean, out of each other. He’s Australian.
I don’t think people understand mine and Adsy’s relationship. Like we’re very, very close. He’s like a big brother to me. He is one of my best friends. He came to Wimbledon with me the other week. He’s always taking the Micky out of me. He thought the joke was brilliant himself. Was showing everybody about it. He was laughing hard about it….”
Hull’s explanation was longer than some pre-shot routines, but the message was simple enough: no damage done.
Paula Martin Sampedro leads the amateurs
Paula Martin Sampedro is the leading amateur after rounds of 69 and 71 left her tied eighth. It is an imposing position in a field where established champions have already been removed from the premises.
Kiara Romero missed the cut and remains on 19 points in the LPGA Elite Amateur Pathway, leaving Sampedro to carry the amateur interest into the weekend.
Ryu, meanwhile, carries the lead and the heavier question. She has already converted two strong halfway positions into major victories this year. Now she has another, built less on fireworks than on relentless accuracy.
The field is still close enough to object. It may need to do so rather loudly.
