DALY CITY, Calif. - Danielle Kang birdied the par-5 18th hole for a 6-under 66 and a one-stroke lead Friday in the LPGA MEDIHEAL Championship, the tour's second straight event on the San Francisco Peninsula.
Coming off a 35th-place tie last week in the U.S. Women's Open at nearby Olympic Club, Kang had a 7-under 137 total at Lake Merced for a one-stroke lead over first-round leader Leona Maguire and former Stanford player Lauren Kim.
Kang rebounded from a bogey on the par-4 16th with a 6-foot par save on the par-3 17th and the closing birdie.
Maguire followed her opening 75 with a 73, rebounding after opening with three straight bogeys. The former Duke star from Ireland played alongside the tournament's two past champions, Sei Young Kim (2018) and Florida neighbor Lydia Ko (2019).
Lauren Kim had her second straight 69.
Min Lee was 5 under after a 69.
Lexi Thompson had a 72 to fall to 1 under.
On Sunday at Olympic, she blew a five-stroke lead, playing the final seven holes in 5 over to finish a stroke out of a playoff that Yuka Saso won.
Michelle Wie West shot a 75 to make the cut on the number at 4 over, the first time in five events this year that she has advanced to the weekend. Wie West and eight other players got in when Katelyn Dambaugh, playing in the last group off the 10th tee, shot a 72, dropping from 3 under to 5 under with closing bogeys.
Stanford's Rachel Heck, the NCAA player of the year playing on a sponsor exemption, missed the cut with rounds of 76 and 78 in the group with Wie West.
Ko was 2 under after a 70, and Kim was 3 over after 74.
Saso and Women's Open playoff loser Nasa Hataoka skipped the event.