Battling back injury, Lexi Thompson leads at Meijer LPGA Classic

Lexi Thompson leads the Meijer LPGA Classic at the 36-hole halfway mark. (Getty Images)

FROM GOLFWEEK.COM
Lexi Thompson continues to lead at the Meijer LPGA Classic, despite playing her second round with back pain.
At Blythefield Country Club, Thompson shot a 4-under 71 in her second round and was bogey-free until the 15th hole where she made two straight bogeys before closing with back-to-back birdies.
“It was definitely important to come back from the two bogeys,” Thompson said. “I just hit a few errant drives there towards the end and made bogeys, but I played 17 and 18 well. I got pretty lucky on 18, I will say that.”
Thompson’s back had her in quite a bit of pain despite her doing her best to ignore it.
“I just try not to pay attention to it.  It was hurting just getting into posture for my golf shot, so it is what it is,” she said. “I didn’t really want to pay attention to how bad it was hurting because then it brings more attention to it and it becomes a mind game.”
Thompson, looking for her first win since the Honda LPGA Thailand, leads four players by one shot at 10 under. So Yeon Ryu, Alena Sharp, Q Baek, and In Gee Chun all sit at 9 under after each player went 66-67.
Sharp, who has never finished better than fifth on Tour, moved into a share of the lead with Thompson, but bogeyed to 18 to fall one back.
“Yeah, you know, I got my bogey out of the way,” Sharp recalled. “I’ve had one this week, and it was on that hole.  Now I don’t have to think about it tomorrow.  That’s the way I’m looking at it.  It just rode the wind too much, and I got behind a tree, and that happens out here, so I’m not really going to look too much into it and just look at the overall day was a good day and move on to tomorrow.”
Lydia Ko and Brooke Henderson, the catalysts for so much drama last week at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, are three shots off Thompson’s pace.
“I’m happy with the way I played,” Ko said. “I was pretty consistent and I just got to keep playing like this. My ball striking wasn’t as good as yesterday so hopefully it can get better progressively on the weekend.”

SCOREBOARD 
par 142 (2x71)

1	Lexi Thompson	65	67						132
T2	So Yeon Ryu	66	67						133
T2	In Gee Chun	66	67						133
T2	Q Baek	66	67						133
T2	Alena Sharp	66	67						133
T6	Haru Nomura	67	67						134
T6	Minjee Lee	67	67						134
T6	Sei Young Kim	65	69						134
T6	Amelia Lewis	66	68						134
T6	Amy Yang	67	67						134
T6	Carlota Ciganda	65	69						134
T6	Jodi Ewart Shadoff	66	68						134
T13	Paula Reto	65	70						135
T13	Brooke Mackenzie Henderson	67	68						135
T13	Lydia Ko	67	68						135
T13	Belen Mozo	67	68						135
T13	Xi Yu Lin	68	67						135
T13	Nontaya Srisawang	70	65						135
T19	Paula Creamer	70	66						136
T19	Shanshan Feng	68	68						136
T19	Ashleigh Simon	68	68						136
T19	Ilhee Lee	68	68						136
T19	Azahara Munoz	68	68						136
T19	Lizette Salas	68	68						136
T25	Mi Jung Hur	70	67						137
T25	Ariya Jutanugarn	68	69						137
T25	Moriya Jutanugarn	69	68						137
T25	Jing Yan	70	67						137
T25	P.K. Kongkraphan	70	67						137
T25	Brittany Lincicome	69	68						137
T25	Danielle Kang	69	68						137
T25	Jaclyn Jansen	66	71						137
T33	Karlin Beck	69	69						138
T33	Sandra Gal	67	71						138
T33	Julie Yang	69	69						138
T33	Laura Davies	65	73						138
T33	Jessica Korda	69	69						138
T33	Anna Nordqvist	70	68						138
T39	Benyapa Niphatsophon	70	69						139
T39	Katherine Kirk	68	71						139
T39	Pernilla Lindberg	69	70						139
T39	Casey Grice	69	70						139
T39	Becky Morgan	70	69						139
T39	Suzann Pettersen	71	68						139
T39	Na Yeon Choi	68	71						139
T39	Maude-Aimee Leblanc	70	69						139
T47	Brittany Altomare	68	72						140
T47	Pannarat Thanapolboonyar	72	68						140
T47	Ryann O'Toole	69	71						140
T47	Eun-Hee Ji	72	68						140
T47	Mirim Lee	72	68						140
T47	Caroline Hedwall	69	71						140
T47	Min Lee	69	71						140
T47	Ayako Uehara	70	70						140
T47	Charley Hull	71	69						140
T47	Julieta Granada	71	69						140
T47	Beatriz Recari	69	71						140
T47	Simin Feng	69	71						140
T47	Budsabakorn Sukapan	72	68						140
T47	Sun Young Yoo	70	70						140
T61	Lisa Ferrero	72	69						141
T61	Jennifer Johnson	74	67						141
T61	Alejandra Llaneza	72	69						141
T61	Demi Runas	69	72						141
T61	Kris Tamulis	70	71						141
T61	Marion Ricordeau	72	69						141
T61	Lee Lopez	71	70						141
T61	Sarah Jane Smith	70	71						141
T61	Annie Park	71	70						141
T61	Joanna Klatten	71	70						141
T61	Jaye Marie Green	69	72						141
T61	Wei-Ling Hsu	72	69						141
T61	Michelle Wie	71	70						141
T61	Pornanong Phatlum	73	68						141
T61	Morgan Pressel	72	69						141
T61	Jenny Shin	71	70						141
T61	Celine Herbin	73	68						141
T61	Jane Park	75	66						141
T61	Kelly Tan	69	72						141
T80	Ginger Howard	71	71	MC			-	-	142
T80	Caroline Masson	71	71	MC			-	-	142
T80	Jacqui Concolino	71	71	MC			-	-	142
T80	Su-Hyun Oh	70	72	MC			-	-	142
T80	Jane Rah	71	71	MC			-	-	142
T80	Briana Mao	70	72	MC			-	-	142
T80	Hee Young Park	72	70	MC			-	-	142
T80	Kelly Shon	74	68	MC			-	-	142
T80	Meena Lee	73	69	MC			-	-	142
T89	Megan Khang	71	72	MC			-	-	143
T89	Gerina Piller	72	71	MC			-	-	143
T89	Dori Carter	70	73	MC			-	-	143
T89	Lindy Duncan	71	72	MC			-	-	143
T89	Jennifer Song	71	72	MC			-	-	143
T89	Cydney Clanton	72	71	MC			-	-	143
T89	Cristie Kerr	71	72	MC			-	-	143
T89	Vicky Hurst	72	71	MC			-	-	143
T97	Kim Kaufman	73	71	MC			-	-	144
T97	Hyo Joo Kim	71	73	MC			-	-	144
T97	Holly Clyburn	72	72	MC			-	-	144
T97	Dani Holmqvist	70	74	MC			-	-	144
T97	Daniela Iacobelli	75	69	MC			-	-	144
T97	Victoria Elizabeth	73	71	MC			-	-	144
T97	Heather Bowie Young	71	73	MC				-	144
T97	Christine Song	73	71	MC				-	144
T97	Karrie Webb	72	72	MC				-	144
T97	Amy Anderson	73	71	MC				-	144
T107	Rachel Rohanna	74	71	MC				-	145
T107	Cheyenne Woods	73	72	MC				-	145
T107	Sally Watson	75	70	MC				-	145
T107	Mi Hyang Lee	74	71	MC				-	145
T107	Elizabeth Nagel	70	75	MC				-	145
T107	Brianna Do	75	70	MC				-	145
T107	Brittany Lang	71	74	MC				-	145
T107	Karine Icher	72	73	MC				-	145
T107	Giulia Sergas	73	72	MC				-	145
T116	Hannah Collier	72	74	MC				-	146
T116	Prima Thammaraks	73	73	MC		-	-	-	146
T116	Sarah Kemp	75	71	MC		-	-	-	146
T116	Sadena Parks	74	72	MC		-	-	-	146
T116	Stephanie Meadow	75	71	MC		-	-	-	146
T116	Tiffany Joh	72	74	MC		-	-	-	146
T116	Samantha Richdale	75	71	MC		-	-	-	146
T116	Mina Harigae	70	76	MC		-	-	-	146
T124	Alison Walshe	74	73	MC		-	-	-	147
T124	Cyna Marie Rodriguez	72	75	MC		-	-	-	147
T124	Ssu-Chia Cheng	75	72	MC		-	-	-	147
T124	Haeji Kang	73	74	MC		-	-	-	147
T124	Yani Tseng	72	75	MC		-	-	-	147
T124	Caroline Westrup	72	75	MC		-	-	-	147
T124	Laetitia Beck	74	73	MC		-	-	-	147
T131	Bertine Strauss	72	76	MC		-	-	-	148
T131	Anne-Catherine Tanguay	73	75	MC		-	-	-	148
T131	Grace Na	74	74	MC		-	-	-	148
T131	Katie Burnett	75	73	MC		-	-	-	148
T135	Jiayi Zhou	73	76	MC		-	-	-	149
T135	Ashlan Ramsey	72	77	MC		-	-	-	149
T135	Giulia Molinaro	76	73	MC		-	-	-	149
T135	Hannah Kim	76	73	MC		-	-	-	149
T135	Nicole Jeray	77	72	MC		-	-	-	149
140	Lindsey McPherson	69	81	MC		-	-	-	150
141	Dewi Claire Schreefel	76	75	MC		-	-	-	151
142	Ji Young Oh	74	78	MC		-	-	-	152
143	Natalie Gulbis	74	WD	WD		-	-	-	74
144	Lee-Anne Pace	75	WD	WD