Staff WriterThe JM Eagle LA Championship has reached the halfway mark with Sei Young Kim perched on top like a woman who has remembered exactly how to win golf tournaments and rather fancies doing it again.
Two straight rounds of 7-under 65 have carried the South Korean to 14-under par, one shot clear of Chizzy Iwai and two ahead of Ina Yoon, with El Caballero Country Club now looking less like a test and more like a stage for a weekend shootout.
Kim’s work has been as neat as a tailor’s stitch. She was bogey-free in round two, made seven birdies, hit 16 of 18 greens, and needed just 27 putts. Through 36 holes she has found 33 of 36 greens in regulation, which is the golfing equivalent of repeatedly landing a dart in the same bit of wall.
Kim’s lead built on control, not chaos
There was nothing fluky about Kim’s position atop the leaderboard. Her second 65 came with the sort of quiet authority that tends to make the rest of the field glance nervously over their shoulders. She has also played the back nine in 9-under through two rounds, which is a particularly handy habit when tournaments start to get jumpy.
This is now the 19th time Kim has held a 36-hole lead or co-lead on the LPGA Tour. History suggests that is not a place from which she tends to wander off politely. She has converted 10 of those into victories and, perhaps even more telling, has never finished outside the top five after leading or sharing the lead at this stage.
That is the profile of a player who knows exactly where the exits are and rarely uses them.
Kim said: “Yeah, I mean, little less windy today, because yesterday is very dry golf condition because starting afternoon. So today greens are — I can attack to the pin more than yesterday.
Also even I had a lot of birdie chance the front nine but I couldn’t make the last couple front, but and I got the — try to the positive thing, and then like good momentum some the par-5 and I made a birdie after that, stretch of three birdie. Yeah, after that I pleased, like very relaxed and then I quite enjoy to play today and then also yesterday.”
Chizzy Iwai is still right there
If Kim has been clinical, Chizzy Iwai has been delightfully sharp-edged. Her opening-round 63 tied the tournament’s 18-hole scoring record at El Caballero, and she backed it up with a 68 to sit alone in second at 13-under.
Iwai is making only her second start at the JM Eagle LA Championship, having finished tied 11th in 2025, but she has looked utterly unbothered by the company. She hit 11 of 14 fairways and 15 of 18 greens in her second round, and her 12 birdies through two days have her tied third in the field.
There is an appealing simplicity to the way she sees the golf course. No overthinking, no academic footnotes, just flags, swings and a cheerful willingness to make a nuisance of herself.
Iwai said:
“Not too long course, yeah, that’s why my second shot not too long. I like aggressive golf. That’s why. Yeah, not too long, short iron. Yeah, easy. (Laughter.)”
Frankly, golf could do with more of that.
Ina Yoon produces the round of the day
Just behind the top two, Ina Yoon stormed into third on 12-under after a sparkling 8-under 64, the low round of the second day. She hit 12 of 14 fairways, 17 of 18 greens and made eight birdies, the most in the field in round two.
The numbers matter, but so does the timing. Yoon’s charge changed the shape of the tournament. What had looked like a two-player affair by mid-afternoon became something far more interesting by sunset.
Her 64 matched her career-low LPGA Tour round, a number she also posted at this event last year on the way to a tie for 16th. Her 132 total is now the lowest 36-hole score of her LPGA Tour career, and a back-nine 29 marked the lowest nine-hole score of her career as well.
In plain English, she got hot and nearly singed the place.
Big names remain in the hunt
The leaderboard at the JM Eagle LA Championship is not exactly short on pedigree. Defending champion Ingrid Lindblad made the cut at 3-under after an even-par 72 in round two, while two-time tournament winner Hannah Green sits tied seventh following a second-round 69.
Both remain close enough to matter, especially on a course where birdies have been available in bunches and momentum can change in a heartbeat. A player can look half-asleep on Thursday and suddenly appear on Sunday with the demeanour of someone who has found religion and a hot putter.
The cut line also brought through sponsor invites Aphrodite Deng and Asterisk Talley, both amateurs, which adds another welcome thread to the weekend story.
Aces, records and a tournament getting lively
There has already been a little glitter thrown across the week. Yu Liu made a hole-in-one in the opening round, using a 9-iron from 161 yards at the 15th. It was the fourth ace of the LPGA season.
That swing also carried a charitable impact. CME Group donates $20,000 for every hole-in-one made on the LPGA Tour in 2026, with a minimum guaranteed donation of $500,000 to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. The running total now stands at $80,000.
As for scoring records, Iwai’s first-round 63 tied the 18-hole tournament mark at El Caballero Country Club. The 36-hole tournament record remains 129, set by Jessica Korda in 2021, so Kim at 130 and Iwai at 131 are knocking fairly loudly on the door.
What the weekend now demands
For Kim, the challenge is familiar: keep doing the boring things brilliantly. She is ranked No. 10 in the Rolex Rankings, owns 13 LPGA Tour wins, and returned to the winner’s circle at the 2025 BMW Ladies Championship after a gap of 1,792 days since her previous victory. That comeback mattered. It reminded everybody, perhaps including Kim herself, that the machinery still works.
Her 2026 season has already produced two top-10 finishes, including a tie for third at the Fortinet Founders Cup, and this feels like another week where experience may count for plenty.
But the JM Eagle LA Championship is not handing her anything yet. Iwai has already shown she can go very low. Yoon has found a gear that can trouble anybody. Green and Lindblad know their way around pressure. And once a leaderboard gets crowded in California sunshine, the air can thicken quickly.
Kim may lead, but halfway leads are like hotel bathrobes: comfortable, flattering and not something you want to be seen celebrating too early.
The shape of the tournament now
What makes this JM Eagle LA Championship so compelling is that it has the right mixture of order and menace. Kim looks in control, yet not safe. Iwai looks fearless. Yoon looks liberated. A cluster of proven names waits just behind them.
That is the recipe for a proper weekend.
And if Kim keeps hitting greens like a machine and rolling putts as though the hole has doubled in size, then the field may be left chasing shadows. But if one of the pursuers catches fire early on Saturday, this leaderboard could start wriggling like a fish on a dock.
Either way, the tournament has moved beyond numbers now. It has a pulse, a pecking order, and the promise of something sharp around the corner.
