Menlo Park, March 21 (IANS) Aditi Ashok carded a second round of 6-under 66 to move into T-3 alongside world number one Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand. Both Ashok and Thitikul carded rounds of 6-under 66 following their opening even par rounds to move up into T-3 alongside Karis Davidson, Nelly Korda, Hye-Jin Choi, Minjee Lee and Jin Hee Im.
Hyo Joo Kim extended her lead as she fired a second round of 2-under 70 to move four shots clear of her closest rival, Gaby Lopez of Mexico. Kim is now at 11-under par. Lopez had carded 5-under 67 on the first day and followed it up with a round of 2-under 70 to hold the second place at 7-under heading into the weekend.
Ashok started her second round on the front nine and had four consecutive birdies starting on the third hole. A fifth birdie on the eighth had Ashok at 5-under par before the turn.
On the back nine a birdie on the 11th was followed by the only bogey of the day on the 13th before a late birdie on the 18th allowed her to move into T-3 with a total score of 6-under par.
Hyo Joo Kim began her second day on the back nine and made two bogey against one birdie by the turn before she played a bogey free front nine which included three birdies to extend her lead to four strokes by the end of the round.
Aaron Rai carded a second round of 5-over 77 and missed the cut at the Valspar Championship despite a strong opening round that had placed him in the top 10. Rai totalled 3-over par (68-77).
Sahith Theegala also missed the cut. Theegala began the week with a difficult first round and had left himself too much ground to cover on the second day if he was to make cut. He carded an even par 72 on the second round to finish the week at 6-over par (77-72).
Sungjae Im continues to lead the field after the second round and is the only player in the top four with a PGA Tour win. Im carded 2-under 70 for the second round and is one stroke ahead of his closest rival, David Lipsky. Im has a total score of 9-under par (64-69).
Aaron Rai began his second round on the back nine with a birdie before making three bogeys and a double bogey by the turn to have dropped five strokes in the first nine holes of the day. On the front nine Rai opened once more with a birdie only to make another four bogeys and one more birdie. The seven bogeys and one double bogey brought his score for the day to 6-over par and an early close to the week.
The other players in the top four are David Lipsky in second place at 8-under. Doug Ghim and Tour rookie Chandler Blanchet are Tied-3rd is at 7-under par.
Defending Champion Viktor Hovland made it the second year running that the defending champion missed the cut at Valspar as he missed his first cut on the tour since the Players Championship in 2025.
–IANS
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