Australian Su Oh has retained a share of the lead as compatriot Minjee Lee fired the day's low round to surge into contention at the Honda LPGA Thailand.
Su Oh almost made a rare albatross at the last hole to retain a share of the lead as major-winning fellow Australians Minjee Lee and Hannah Green joined the party during a storm-ravaged second round at the Honda LPGA Thailand.
Oh's brilliant three at the par-5 18th - after going within millimetres of holing her second shot from the fairway - completed a seven under par 65 on Friday that left her atop the leaderboard at the halfway point with Japan's Nasa Hataoka at 16 under.
Hataoka backed up her perfect ball-striking round on Thursday - when she hit 14 of 14 fairways and all 18 greens in regulation - with a 65 to stay level pegging with Oh.
The front-running duo are one stroke ahead of Frenchwoman Celine Boutier and Norway's Nanna Koerstz Madsen, who both shot 64 on Friday to halve the deficit.
On a golden day for the Australian trio, who shot a combined 22 under par, Lee and Green rocketed up the leaderboard with blazing second rounds to join Oh in the mix.
World No.4 Lee shot a flawless eight-under 64 with six birdies and an eagle two at the par-4 15th to surge to 11 under, finishing as the clubhouse leader before tropical thunderstorms forced a suspension of play.
She ended the day in a tie for eighth, five strokes behind Oh and Hataoka, after the overnight leaders returned to the course some two hours after being evacuated just after 2pm local time.
Green looked set to better Lee's round when nine under for the day as she teed off on the ninth, the last hole of her round.
She had to settle for a 65, though, after making a double-bogey six.
At nine under, Green is seven shots behind great mate Oh and Hataoka and sharing 15th position.
Joint runner-up at last week's HSBC Women's World Championship in Singapore in her first event of the year, Lee remains on top of her game, again producing the day's low round.
"Just finishing well last week gave me a little bit of confidence coming into this week," the one-time world No.2 said, having climbed to her highest ranking in three years with a sizzling 63 last Sunday.
"We can go pretty low around this golf course; it's pretty soft. So there's a lot of birdie opportunities out there."
Lee's highlight on Friday was driving the par-4 15th.
"The tee was up yesterday and today so I hit driver. It went on the green and I had like 15 feet for eagle so I drained the putt and I was walking off happy."
The 2021 Evian Championship major winner was also happy to see her compatriots on the leaderboard.
"For sure. I'm sure everybody has been training really, really hard, so it's nice to get rewarded for how much work you put in," Lee said.
"So it is nice. Go, Aussie."
