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- Youmin Hwang shoots 10-under 62 in final group to take LOTTE Championship lead</p>
<p>October 3, 2025 at 6:29 AM</p>
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<p>HONOLULU (AP) — Youmin Hwang played in the final group off the first tee Thursday in the second round of the LOTTE Championship. She'll do it again Friday after shooting a 10-under 62, the best round in the four years the tournament has been played at Hoakalei Country Club.</p>
<p>Hwang opened eagle-birdie, dropped a stroke on the fourth and had eight more birdies to get to 15-under 129 and open a three-stroke lead with two rounds left. Playing on a sponsor invitation, the 22-year-old South Korean player has two victories on the Korean LPGA.</p>
<p>"First of all, I broke my life-best score," Hwang said. "At the same time, I broke the course record, so I feel very good."</p>
<p>Hwang matched the tournament record of 62 set by Lizette Salas in the 2013 final round and Cristie Kerr in the 2017 third round, both at Ko Olina Golf Course.</p>
<p>"I feel very different about the course, first, especially the grass type," Hwang said. "It's very different to Korea and play in Korea LPGA."</p>
<p>First-round leader Akie Iwai of Japan followed her opening 64 with a 68 in the afternoon session to join American Jessica Porvasnik (65) at 12 under.</p>
<p>"Feel like little difference, specific on the green," Iwai said. "Getting hard to see the line."</p>
<p>Porvasnik played in the first group of the day of the first tee. She's a 30-year-old LPGA Tour rookie after finishing fourth last year in the Epson Tour standings.</p>
<p>"I just hit a lot of fairways, a lot of greens, gave myself a lot of great looks, and made a few of those," said Porvasnik, a former Ohio State player.</p>
<p>Iwai played in a group with twin sister Chisato, who was 8 under after a 66. The 23-year-old Japanese sisters have each won this year as tour rookies. Chisato broke through at Mayakoba in Mexico in May, and Akie won the Portland Classic in August.</p>
<p>Nasa Hataoka of Japan and Gabriela Ruffels of Australia each shot 69 to get to 10 under.</p>
<p>Second-ranked Nelly Korda was 8 under after a 67 in the morning.</p>
<p>"The main difference between today and yesterday was just the putts dropped," Korda said. "It was a little gustier out there today versus yesterday, so it was fun to play in, kind of show my creative side."</p>
<p>Coming off a seven-victory season, Korda hasn't won this year and has lost her No. 1 ranking to Jeeno Thitikul. The tour has had a different winner in all 24 of its official tournaments this year.</p>
<p>Charley Hull, playing alongside Korda, was 7 under after a 68. Hull won the Kroger Queen City Championship three weeks ago in Ohio after Thitikul four-putted the final hole.</p>
<p>"Just played pretty solid golf," Henderson said. "I found the greens kind of a bit slow, so kind of hard to get used to the pace because you just feel like you have to bash the putts."</p>
<p>Brooke Henderson, the 2018 and 2019 winner at Ko Olina, was 4 under after her second 70.</p>
<p>Defending champion A Lim Kim was 4 under after a 74.</p>
<p>After the event, the LPGA heads to Asia for tournaments five straight weeks in Shanghai, South Korea, Malaysia and Japan.</p>
<p>___</p>
<p>AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf</p>
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