KILDEER - Ryu So-yeon celebrated her 28th birthday with a three-under-par 69 that lifted her into a tie for the clubhouse lead at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship outside Chicago on Friday.
The former world number one, back in form after a slight drop-off, joined South Korean compatriot Park Sung-hyun (72) and Canadian Brooke Henderson (71) in front as the three long hitters tamed the Kemper Lakes course in Kildeer, Illinois.
They headed New Zealander Lydia Ko (66) and Moriya Jutanugarn of Thailand (72) by two strokes with half the field back in the clubhouse.
Ryu ended a nearly year-long victory drought when she won the Meijer Classic two weeks ago, a result she achieved after a change in attitude.
"When I won, my expectation was zero," she told Golf Channel. "I just enjoyed myself every moment with my little golf ball out there.
"That's the attitude I have this year. I just want to enjoy it rather than think about the big picture."
Ryu, who in Cameron McCormick uses the same coach as Jordan Spieth, said she had picked up some extra length recently.
It certainly came in handy on a course that is still drying out after being drenched earlier in the week.
"I have started to hit it a bit longer, this year almost a club longer with the irons," she said. "That's definitely helped me play more aggressive."
Ryu finished with three birdies in the final five holes to catch Park, who faltered with a bogey at her 16th hole, the par-five seventh.
Park's second shot from more than 200 yards landed pin high but took a huge bounce over the green, from where she hit a poor chip that almost trickled into a water hazard on the other side.
Henderson, in the hunt for her second victory in the event after beating Ko in a playoff in 2016, banged in a 15-foot birdie at the last to earn a share of the lead.
"Up and down all day," she said of a round that included five birdies and four bogeys.
"I would like to shoot a little better but one-under when it was so hot and so windy, I'll take it."
