ROGERS -- So Yeon Ryu was firmly in contention after Friday's opening round of the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, but she spent much of her post-round interview answering questions about Sung Hyun Park.
Park, an LPGA Tour rookie, doesn't yet speak English well enough to converse with reporters, so the bubbly Ryu answered a few questions about her fellow South Korea native with a smile.
Walmart NW Arkansas Championship
Second Round Leaderboard
Par: 71
Player^First Round^Second Round^Total Score
So Yeon Ryu^65^61^126 (-16)
Moriya Jutanugarn^66^65^131 (-11)
Stacy Lewis^66^65^131 (-11)
Amy Yang^68^65^133 (-9)
Aditi Ashok^70^64^134 (-8)
Inbee Park^69^65^134 (-8)
Minjee Lee^69^65^134 (-8)
Suzann Petterson^68^66^134 (-8)
That smile was still present after Saturday's second round at Pinnacle Country Club, but this time, all the questions were about her. For good reason.
Ryu shattered multiple tournament records and shot the best round of her LPGA Tour career, firing a 10-under-par 61 and vaulting up the leaderboard to 16-under to claim a commanding 5-shot lead over Moriya Jutanugarn and University of Arkansas, Fayetteville graduate Stacy Lewis heading into today's final round.
She also shot a 61 at the Australian Ladies Masters in 2012. On Saturday, a 59 wasn't out of the question after she birdied six of her first 10 holes.
"I didn't think about 59, but after I hit 61 twice, I should fix my goal to 59," Ryu said.
Ryu's 61 broke the tournament record of 62 set by Lydia Ko and Ayako Uehara, both in 2016, and Angela and Jane Park in 2008. Her two-round score of 136 was also the tournament's 36-hole record, besting the 138s recorded by Ko and Morgan Pressel last year. She is the only bogey-free player in the field.
Simply put, Ryu's performance so far is the best in the tournament's 11-year history.
Ryu is no stranger to playing well in Rogers. In 2013, she finished second after losing in a playoff with close friend Inbee Park.
"I have few good memories about here," Ryu said. "Maybe losing a playoff is not a good memory, but still, you know, close to win. I think a lot of positives out here, so hopefully I can catch my opportunity tomorrow."
Her putter has been a major reason for her low scoring. She needed just 25 putts Saturday, a significant improvement from the 29.87 putts per round she averaged coming into the weekend, a number that ranked 102nd on the tour, well behind Stephanie Meadow's top-ranked 28.18 average.
It's been a while since Ryu has had a performance like this on the greens.
"Maybe a long time ago, like back when I played in Korea, but I think this is one of my best tournaments for putting," Ryu said.
This weekend is a continuation of the best year of Ryu's career. She has eight top-10 finishes in 10 starts and won the ANA Inspiration in March, her second major victory and first win on the tour since 2014.
Now, she's in prime position to become the tour's first player with multiple wins in 2017.
"She has so many close calls the last few years and finally this year she has been playing her A-game," Park said. "She has been playing really good. She always struggled with the putter a little bit until the last year, but this year she seems like she can putt, so that's why her scoring is so low."
Lewis followed up a first-round 66 with a 6-under 65 on Saturday, stringing together four birdies in a span of five holes on the front nine and closing strong. She sank a 20-footer for birdie on the par-3 17th, then sank a birdie putt that nearly lipped out on the par-5 18th to pull within five strokes of the lead.
"She (Ryu) shot 10-under today. Those rounds are hard to follow up. I know what that's like," Lewis said. "So I just felt like if I could get close and (played) a good round tomorrow, you never know what's going to happen."
Jutanugarn and Lewis are the only golfers within six shots of Ryu, who holds the largest lead entering the final round in tournament history.
Ryu began her round on the back nine and started fast, birdieing the par-4 10th and par-3 11th off the bat. She added birdies on the par-5 14th, the par-3 17th and the par-5 18th before she made the turn.
By the time she birdied the par-4 first hole to move to 6-under through 10 holes, she was 12-under overall and owned a four-shot lead.
She closed strong with four more birdies, including three in her final four holes. She sank medium-length putts on eight and nine to break the course record and walk into the clubhouse with an eight-shot lead.
Her hot putting has been a constant through two rounds, but Saturday she was nearly perfect off the tee, hitting 12 of 13 fairways after a day after expressing a bit of frustration with her ball striking.
"Yesterday I promised I wanted to hit better and putt great as well," Ryu said. "I kept my promise today."
And then some.
Sports on 06/25/2017