Jinhee Lim leads LPGA majors 2R...Hae Ran Hwang 4-5

Jin-hee Lim, 26, a six-time winner on the Korean Ladies Professional Golf Association (KLPGA) Tour who made her debut on the Ladies Professional Golf Association (LPGA) Tour this season, holds the second-round lead in the first major of the season.

Lim began the second round of the Chevron Championship ($7.9 million) at Carleton Woods Club (Par 72-6824) in Texas, USA, on Tuesday in a tie for fifth place, three shots off the lead. She carded five birdies for an 8-under-par 136 total, tied for the lead with Ataya Thittitjerin (21-THA). Lim will be looking to become the first South Korean player to win on the LPGA Tour this season. Prior to this event, South Korean players had not won a tournament in eight events this season. They haven't won a major since Jeon In-ji (30) at the 2022 Wegmans PGA Championship.

Lim led the KLPGA Tour in wins last season (4) and finished tied for 17th on the Q-Series before making her way to the U.S. this season. In her three previous starts, she missed the cut, tied for 27th and tied for 35th. "I wanted to play longer and I wanted to play on a bigger tour," she said of her first LPGA Tour major.

World No. 1 Nellie Korda (USA), 26, who is looking to extend her winning streak to five events, is tied for third (7-under par), one stroke off the lead. Korda opened with a double bogey on the par-4 first but birdied the next two holes before adding five birdies and one bogey.

Last season's LPGA Tour Rookie of the Year Hae-Ran Hae, 23, is tied for fourth (6-under par) and Bang Shin-Sil, 20, who plays on the KLPGA Tour, is tied for fifth (5-under par). Bang, the KLPGA Tour's longest-hitting player last season, qualified for the tournament as a top-40 player in the world. She carded a bogey-free eagle on the eighth hole (par-5) and five birdies to finish with the best score of the field (65).

Jiae Shin (36), who will compete in the Paris Olympics, missed the cut in a tie for 49th place (1-over par). In her return to the Tour after a month-long absence, 2019 champion Ko Jin-young (29) tied for 74th (3-over par), while retiring star Yoo So-yeon (34) missed the cut at 110th (7-over par). "I tried my best to enjoy everything - the excitement of the tee shot, the difficult chip shot, the nervousness of making a birdie putt," said Yoo, who won the event in 2017, as she concluded her final tournament of the day.