Staff WriterSoo Bin Joo leads the ShopRite LPGA by four shots after a second-round 68 at Seaview Bay Course, turning a blustery afternoon into the sort of examination where pars suddenly become precious little antiques.
The Rolex Rankings No. 252 matched the low round of the day, made four birdies, dropped just one shot, and needed only 25 putts. More importantly, she has made just two bogeys across her first two rounds, which is less a statistic and more a quiet act of rebellion when the wind is poking golf balls about like an impatient customs officer.
At 8-under-par, Joo sits clear of a five-player group at 4-under: Chizzy Iwai, Aki Iwai, Somi Lee, Celine Boutier and Laetitia Beck.
For Joo, this is new territory. It is the first time she has led or co-led after any round of an LPGA Tour event. Not a bad moment to find the front of the stage, especially with a place in next week’s U.S. Women’s Open also potentially on the line.
Soo Bin Joo Finds A Different Gear
Joo’s second round was not an exercise in giddy target practice. It was more disciplined than dazzling, more chessboard than fireworks display.
She has been tidy through two rounds, and on a course that was asking increasingly awkward questions, that mattered. The putter helped, certainly, but the real strength was the absence of mess. Two bogeys in 36 holes is no accident. It is a golfer keeping the damage column on a very strict diet.
Asked about the difference between her first and second rounds, Joo said:
“I think the biggest difference is the course condition and my game plan was totally different. I mean, I was barely making pars on the golf course today and yesterday was like going for birdies on every single hole. So different game plan and a different mindset. I think that put me in a good position today.”
That is the sound of a player who understood the assignment. When Seaview Bay Course began flexing, Joo stopped chasing everything and started managing the round. Very sensible. Very grown-up. Very bad news for the chasing pack.
Five Chasers, One Crowded Argument
Behind Joo, the leaderboard has all the ingredients for a final-round scramble.
Chizzy Iwai was ruthless on the greens, needing only 24 putts in round two, the fewest in the field. Through two rounds, she leads the tournament in that category with 49 putts. That is either elite touch or mild sorcery, depending on how generous you are feeling.
Her twin sister Aki Iwai is also at 4-under after a second-round 3-under-par effort featuring six birdies. The symmetry is pleasing, mildly eerie, and exactly the sort of thing golf likes to throw at us when it has run out of ordinary plotlines.
Somi Lee, meanwhile, posted a second straight 69 and has hit 28 of 36 greens in regulation, the best mark in the field. There are worse ways to prepare for the U.S. Women’s Open than repeatedly finding the putting surface while everyone else is occasionally exploring the scenery.
Lee said: “I was back in Korea for a long time and this one was the first tournament to play after I came back. Yes, this tournament was to prepare for the U.S. Open, and this one will definitely help with my confidence preparing for next week.”
Confidence is a fragile little animal in professional golf. Lee appears to have brought hers back from Korea in decent condition.
Boutier Still Dangerous Despite A Bruising Day
Celine Boutier remains firmly in the argument, although her second round was not short of turbulence.
The 2021 ShopRite LPGA winner played her second round in 1-over-par, mixing five birdies with eight pars, four bogeys and a double bogey. That is a scorecard with the emotional stability of a shopping trolley with one bad wheel, yet she is still tied for second.
Boutier is also tied for the most birdies in the field with 11, which tells you she has found plenty of sharp golf among the debris.
On the difficulty of Seaview Bay Course in the wind, Boutier said: “Yeah, it’s just definitely harder to hit fairways, harder to hit greens, and then with club selections it’s very tricky as well because it’s sometimes very gusty, so you kind of have to hit it at the right time kind of thing.
So it was hard to figure out the club selection as well. Especially when it’s blowing so hard helping but also into, sometimes it’s kind of not easy to know how much it’s going to affect the ball.
So I thought it was, yeah, definitely a challenging rounds, but have to like stay patient and not play too aggressive, because especially with the pins that were a little bit on the edges and stuff like that, you have to kind of go for the middle a lot of times.”
That, in essence, is the Bay Course problem. It tempts, it shifts, it gusts, and then it asks why your 7-iron is suddenly behaving like a weather balloon.
Laetitia Beck Tries To Reset After A Tough 75
Laetitia Beck began the day with the lead after a brilliant opening 63, but round two delivered a sterner conversation. Her 75 dropped her back into the group at 4-under, though she remains close enough to matter.
Despite making only two birdies in the second round, Beck is still tied for third in the field with 10 birdies overall. The scoring is there. The challenge now is stitching it back together for one more day.
Beck said: “I was very happy that I was comfortable out there. I wasn’t too nervous, so that was something very positive. So I just need to play a good round tomorrow to try to beat everyone that is close to that Top 3.
So, yeah, I know — again, today I shot 4-over, but not necessarily hitting sideways, more leaving myself short. So I am going to stay positive and just going to try to do my best to go out there tomorrow and shoot a low one.”
That is the right sort of reset. Golfers can live with poor numbers if the ball-striking does not feel like a full-scale emergency. Beck’s task is not reinvention. It is adjustment.
U.S. Women’s Open Stakes Add Extra Heat
There is more on offer for Joo than a trophy and a career-changing Sunday.
With a win, she would become a Rolex First Time Winner, the first first-time LPGA Tour winner of the 2026 season, and the eighth unique winner on Tour this year. She would also become the third player from the Republic of Korea to win on the LPGA Tour this season, joining Hyo Joo Kim and Mi Hyang Lee.
The financial leap would matter too. A victory would take Joo past $400,000 in official season earnings and beyond $700,000 in career official earnings.
Most immediately, it would also earn her a spot at next week’s U.S. Women’s Open. For a player not yet in the field, that is not a carrot dangling in front of her. It is more like a chandelier.
Joo arrived at this week’s ShopRite LPGA with four cuts made from seven starts this season, one top-10 finish, and missed cuts in her last two starts. Her best result of the year is eighth at the Riviera Maya Open at Mayakoba. She joined the LPGA Tour in 2023 and improved her 2026 status by finishing second at LPGA Final Stage Final Qualifying.
This is her fourth start at the ShopRite LPGA powered by Wakefern. Her previous results here suggest the place suits her eye: T20 in 2025, a missed cut in 2024 and T6 in 2023.
A Windy Final Round With Plenty Still Loose
There were also departures and disruptions during the second round. Alena Sharp withdrew prior to her round because of injury, while Hye-Jin Choi, Yu Liu and Xiaowen Yin withdrew during their rounds because of illness.
Arpichaya Yubol was assessed a one-stroke penalty for slow play on No. 13, another reminder that tournament golf can punish you for both bad swings and poor timekeeping.
The tournament scoring records remain safely out in front for now. Linnea Strom’s 18-hole mark of 60 from 2024 still stands, while the 36-hole record is 130, shared by Amy Benz, Denise Killeen, Stacy Lewis, Karine Icher and Sei Young Kim. The 54-hole record is 196, held by Annika Sorenstam and Anna Nordqvist.
But Sunday is not about records. It is about whether Joo can turn a four-shot lead into a first LPGA Tour victory while a pack of proven, precise and occasionally dangerous players tries to make her afternoon uncomfortable.
The wind has already had its say. Now Joo gets hers. (say that is!).
