Chandni Canan BauerThe KPMG Women’s PGA Championship has reached the weekend with Ina Yoon holding the sort of lead that looks comfortable only to those who have never had to sleep on one.
At 12-under through 36 holes, the Rolex Rankings No. 39 has not merely put herself in front; she has posted the lowest score to par through two rounds in championship history, which is a marvellous way to introduce oneself to a major leaderboard and a dreadful way to keep expectations quiet.
Yoon’s position is striking for more than the number beside her name. This is her first lead or co-lead after 36 holes on the LPGA Tour. It is also just her second start at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, having missed the cut in 2025. Golf has a habit of refusing to read CVs before causing mischief.
The cut fell at +1 or better, with 70 players surviving into the weekend. That leaves enough traffic behind Yoon to make the final two rounds anything but ceremonial.
Yoon’s Record Start Gives The Championship Its Shape
Yoon’s 12-under mark moves her ahead of some serious company in the championship’s 36-hole to-par ledger. In Gee Chun reached 11-under through two rounds in 2022 and went on to win by one. Nelly Korda did the same in 2021 and won by three. Karrie Webb was 11-under in 2001 and won by two.
That does not guarantee anything, of course. Major championships are not vending machines. You do not insert a low score on Friday and receive a trophy on Sunday.
Still, Yoon has given herself a proper platform. She leads the field with 14 birdies through 36 holes and has turned what began as a promising week into something far more substantial. Her opening 63 also joined the championship’s 18-hole scoring record list, alongside Patty Sheehan, Meg Mallon, Kelly Shon, Sei-Young Kim and Nelly Korda.
For context, the official 36-hole aggregate scoring record remains Karrie Webb’s 131 from 2001. Yoon’s achievement is the lowest score to par at this stage, which is the sort of distinction golf statisticians enjoy and everyone else understands as: very, very good.
“The remaining two days will obviously be nerve-wracking, but being nervous is human nature, and I think I want to embrace that and focus on what I can in my shots.”
That is sensible. It is also easier to say before the putter starts feeling like a garden rake.
The Chasers Are Close Enough To Be Annoying
Yoon is being pursued at T2 by A Lim Kim, Nasa Hataoka, Brooke Henderson and Haeran Ryu at 7-under. A five-shot gap is meaningful, but in major golf it is not a moat. It is more of a polite garden fence, and there are several players behind her who look perfectly capable of stepping over it.
Kim signed for a 2-under 70 in round two and has made only two over-par holes through 36 holes. This is already her best position after two rounds at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, improving on her previous best of T17 in 2022. She is also one of four Korean players inside the top 10 and ties, the first time this championship has had that many from Korea in that bracket through 36 holes since 2017.
Hataoka finished with real bite, playing her last three holes in 3-under to card a 5-under 67. It was her best second-round score of the season, her best 36-hole placing at this championship, and she is one of eight Japanese players to make the cut.
Then there is Henderson, a past champion and the sort of player nobody particularly wants hanging around the first page of a major leaderboard. She is in her best LPGA Tour position heading into a weekend since the 2023 Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions. Two rounds in the 60s, just one bogey in each of the first two rounds, and top-10 numbers in both fairways hit and greens in regulation: that is not smoke and mirrors. That is a golfer driving the ball like she knows where it is going, which remains one of the more underrated luxuries in the sport.
Haeran Ryu Produces The Round Of The Day
The loudest Friday move belonged to Haeran Ryu, who shot the low round of the day with an 8-under 64. It was one of only two bogey-free rounds on the day and the fourth time in her major championship career that she has produced the best score of a round, tied or outright.
Ryu’s game can look wonderfully unfussy when it is behaving. On Friday, it behaved like a well-trained spaniel.
“Every round is so different, but today, yeah, yesterday my score is not good, so I just think about it like it’s, okay, I just missed cut. I just trusted my swing and then I work out a lot in Korea, so I just trust my swing and my confidence and my putter and shots. That’s it. And then I don’t care anything. I just care for my swing.”
There is a lesson in there for every golfer who has ever tried to solve one bad round by taking their swing apart with the emotional delicacy of a man dismantling a toaster.
Korda’s Hall Of Fame Chase Adds A Heavyweight Thread
World No. 1 Nelly Korda remains one of the headline names to watch because a win would clinch her spot in the LPGA Hall of Fame. That is not exactly a minor weekend subplot. It is the golfing equivalent of a brass band warming up behind the 18th green.
Korda was also the last player to reach 12-under-par or lower through the first 36 holes of any major championship, doing so at this year’s Chevron Championship before going on to win.
That historical echo now belongs to Yoon as she enters the weekend. The difference is that the chasing pack includes major champions, in-form players and enough volatility to keep even the steadiest leader thoroughly awake.
The Weekend Ledger Is Full Of Intrigue
Beyond the very top of the board, the cut produced its own set of significant storylines.
Jing Yan is holding her second consecutive round-two position of T11 or better. Megan Khang has made her first cut in her last four starts and sits T17, one of her best second-round positions of the season. Canadian Anna Huang has made her first cut at a major championship.
KPMG Ambassador Leona Maguire has made her first major championship cut of 2026, while Isabella Fierro has made her second cut in a major and first since the 2024 Chevron Championship. Rookie Carolina Chacarra has made her third cut of the season and second in a major championship.
Rookies Briana Chacon and Carolina Melgrati have each made their first major championship cuts. Former champion and European Solheim Cup captain Anna Nordqvist has made her first cut at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship since 2023, when she finished T3. Former champion Sung Hyun Park has made her first cut since the 2024 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
Nicole Felce also made the cut on the number and is the only member of the Corebridge Financial Team to reach the weekend.
Not everyone escaped. Defending champion Minjee Lee missed the cut, as did Hannah Green, who won the 2019 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Hazeltine. Past champions Yani Tseng and Danielle Kang are also out, along with recent LPGA Tour winners Gina Kim and Yana Wilson.
Major championships do not have much time for sentiment. They barely have time for lunch.
Shannon Tan Delivers The Shot With The Exclamation Mark
Every major needs a moment that arrives with no warning and leaves everyone grinning. Shannon Tan supplied one on the fourth hole in round two, making a hole-in-one with a 6-iron from 169 yards.
It was her first hole-in-one on the LPGA Tour and her first in a major championship. The phrase “Hole-in-one at Hazeltine” does rather carry its own electricity, even before the punctuation starts waving flags.
Ryann O’Toole and Jasmine Suwannapura both withdrew during the second round.
Yoon Has The Lead, But Not The Luxury Of Silence
Yoon arrived on the LPGA Tour after finishing eighth at the Final Qualifying portion of LPGA Q-Series to earn membership for the 2025 season. She is a two-time winner on the KLPGA, with her most recent victory coming in 2024, and her 2026 season has already shown a player settling into higher company: 11 cuts made in 12 starts, four top-10 finishes, and back-to-back top-four results at the JM Eagle LA Championship and The Chevron Championship.
Those fourth-place finishes are her LPGA career bests, improving on a previous best of T10 in 2025. Her four top-10s this season are also a career best, after recording one in her rookie season.
Now comes the harder part. Leading a major after two rounds is one thing. Carrying that lead through the weekend is another creature entirely, usually with teeth.
Yoon has the score, the form and the calm public language. Behind her, Henderson has the pedigree, Ryu has momentum, Hataoka has a closing burst to remember, Kim has control, and Korda has a Hall of Fame prize hovering in the background.
The KPMG Women’s PGA Championship has its leader. Better still, it has its tension. And in golf, tension is where the truth usually starts sharpening its nails.
