Jodi Ewart Shadoff of England shot a 3–under–par 69 Friday to grow her lead to four strokes at the LPGA Mediheal Championship in Somis, Calif.
Ewart Shadoff, who shot a 64 on Thursday to take the early lead at The Saticoy Club, is now at 11–under 133, four ahead of South Africa’s Paula Reto.
The 34-year-old leader is still looking for the first win of her LPGA Tour career.
“I feel really good,” Ewart Shadoff said. “Playing really consistent, and I feel really in control of my game. Just staying in my routine and hitting some good shots, rolling in the putts, so everything seems to be going well so far.
Ewart Shadoff started her day with birdies at Nos. 1, 2, 4 and 6 to vault to 12 under for the tournament. But she slowed down from there, with three bogeys and two birdies the rest of the way.
“Shooting such a low number yesterday, you can’t expect to go out there and do that, shoot another 8, 9 under again,” she said. “So I think I just played very similar today to yesterday. Couple putts here and there just didn’t fall. Overall I’m striking the ball well, hitting a lot of fairways, which I think is key out here.”
Reto, who won the Canadian Women’s Open in August, posted a 2–under 70 on Friday with five birdies and three bogeys.
“It just boils down to, again, just being able to read those putts,” Reto said. “So if I put some extra time into that on the putting green today I feel like I can give it a run tomorrow and Sunday for sure.”
Tied for third at 6 under par were France’s Pauline Roussin (68 on Friday), Northern Ireland’s Stephanie Meadow (70), Mexico’s Gaby Lopez (70), South Koreans Eun-Hee Ji (68) and Haeji Kang (69) and China’s Xiyu Lin (69) and Ruixin Liu (72).
Notable players to miss the cut line of 1 over par were defending champion Matilda Castren of Finland (2 over), South Korea’s Jeongeun Lee5 (2 over), Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn (3 over).
