Crowded at the Top of NW Arkansas Championship


Through 36 holes of the Walmart NW Arkansas Championship there are four names atop the leaderboard in the $2 million LPGA Tour event at Pinnacle Country Club in Rogers, Ark.

Three of them - Japan's Chie Arimura, Spain's Beatriz Recari and American Stacy Lewis - posted 6-under 65s to join South Korea's So Yeon Ryu (66) at 10-under 132.

The quartet are two shots ahead of South Koreans I.K. Kim, who matched Saturday's low round, a 7-under 64, No. 1-ranked Inbee Park (65) and Ji Young Oh (66), and Thailand's Pornanong Phatlum (65).

Park, a four-time winner this year and winner of the LPGA Tour's most recent event, a major, the Wegmans LPGA Championship, is now in good position for her fifth title at roughly the halfway point of the season.

Lewis is the popular choice this week at Pinnacle. The Toledo, Ohio, native was a four-time All-American at the University of Arkansas and won the event as an amateur in 2007.

Tied for ninth at 7-under 135 are New Zealand amateur Lydia Ko (66) and first-round leader Mika Miyazato of Japan. Miyazato followed up her opening 65 with a 70.

Four back of the leaders are LPGA Hall of Famer Juli Inkster (65), Brooke Pancake (67), Paula Creamer (68), the Netherlands' Christel Boeljon (69), Australian Sarah Kemp (69) and Thailand's Moriya Jutanugarn (67).

Former No. 1 Yani Tseng of Taiwan shares 17th with several others at 5-under 137. Included in that group is the tournament's defending champion Ai Miyazato, no relation to Mika, who started with a 2-over 73 but rebounded nicely with a stellar 7-under 64 Saturday.

For all the scores, visit www.lpga.com.