Yoo Hyun-jo fires 11 birdies to seize solo lead at Dongbu Championship

Yoo Hyun-jo, last year's KLPGA Tour Player of the Year, stormed from a tie for 12th into sole possession of the lead at the HJ Shipbuilding & Construction-Dongbu Championship — purse 1 billion won ($747,000) — by carding 11 birdies in a single round.

Playing at A-One Country Club (par 72) in Yangsan, South Gyeongsang Province, on Friday, Yoo went bogey-free with 11 birdies to collect 22 points in the second round. After earning 12 points in the first round, she moved to 34 points overall, edging Han A-reum (33 points) by one point to claim the top spot on the leaderboard.

The tournament uses a modified Stableford scoring system that awards five points for eagle, two for birdie, zero for par, minus one for bogey and minus three for double bogey or worse.

Yoo set the tone early, reeling off five consecutive birdies from the first hole (par 4) through the fifth (par 4). She added two more at the seventh (par 4) and ninth (par 5) to bank 14 points on the front nine alone. She kept the momentum going on the back nine, stringing together three consecutive birdies at holes 13 through 15 before closing out with a 3.7-meter birdie putt at the 18th (par 4).

"I didn't expect to play this well," Yoo said after the round. "On the front nine, I kept hitting my approach shots close to the hole on five straight holes. I think creating so many opportunities with my iron play is what led to the good score."

Yoo had recently competed as an invited player at the LPGA Tour's Lotte Championship in Hawaii and had not fully adjusted to the time difference. "I was still so jet-lagged that I woke up at 4 a.m. on Friday," she said. "I'm just glad I was able to post a good score despite that."

Having won the Rookie of the Year award in 2024 before sweeping the Player of the Year and lowest scoring average honors last year, Yoo is now chasing her second win of the season and fourth of her career.

Han A-reum, who had led after the first round, added 17 points Friday on nine birdies and one bogey, but could not hold off Yoo and settled into sole second place at 33 points overall.

Kim Min-sun sits third at 31 points, Seo Eo-jin fourth at 28 and Lee Ye-won fifth at 27. Defending champion Kim Min-sol, who has three wins this season, added 10 points Friday to move to 25 points overall and into sole eighth place.

Seo Gyo-rim, who leads the Player of the Year points race with four wins this season, managed only eight points Friday — six birdies offset by four bogeys — to finish at nine points overall and miss the cut in a tie for 79th.