Ashleigh Buhai carded a five-under-par 67 on Friday in the second round of the Ladies European Tour’s Aramco Saudi Ladies International at Royal Greens Golf & Country Club to move into a share of 13th at the halfway stage of the tournament.
The 2022 AIG Women’s Open champion had three bogeys in her opening one-under-par 71, but there were no more signs of rust during the second round when she made five birdies without dropping a shot. She got herself nicely set for the weekend on a star-studded leaderboard on which world number one Lydia Ko was in second on 11-under-par. That was two behind the red-hot Aditi Ashok of India who added a second-round 66 to her opening 65 to hit the front.
At six-under, Buhai is within reach of the top of the leaderboard. Sharing second with Ko was Lilia Vu of the United States. Albane Valenzuela was in fourth on 10-under, with Gaby Lopez of Mexico and Emily Pedersen of Sweden in a share of fifth on nine-under.
Nicole Garcia also had a good second round, with her three-under 69 lifting her into a share of 29th on three-under for the tournament. Lee-Anne Pace had a level-par 72, and, at two-under through 36 holes, was in a share of 36th.
Paula Reto and Casandra Alexander missed the cut after rounds of 78 and 80 respectively.
