Stanford surges into lead in second round of Northrop Grumman

Scoring conditions so far at the Northrop Grumman Invitational, the women’s season-opening event on the West Coast, have been less than ideal. Despite wet weather, Stanford managed to dive 5 shots under par in Monday’s round at Palos Verdes (Calif.) Golf Club. The Cardinal leads the event by six shots with one round to go.

Stanford got a big boost from Ziyi Wang and Mika Liu, who turned in rounds of 2-under 69. Andrea Lee added 1-under 70 and Albane Valenzuela had 71.

Stanford’s 5-under 279 was at least nine shots better than any other team on Monday. Stanford had started the day trailing UCLA by four. At 6 over for 36 holes, the Cardinal now leads UCLA by six shots. The Bruins were 5 over on Monday.

Texas hung in the fight on Monday, too, carding the second-best round with a 4-over 288. USC also went 4 over in the second round. Texas is third at 18 over and USC is fourth another shot back.

Stanford’s Lee leads the individual race after back-to-back rounds of 1-under 70. She is the only player who is under par for the tournament. Four players are tied for second at 1 over, including Florida State’s Frida Kinhult, Arizona’s Yu-Sang Hou, Texas’ Agathe Laisne and UCLA’s Patty Tavatanakit.

Kinhult and Tavatanakit made news off the course on Monday when it was announced that they would be in the field for the LPGA first major, the ANA Inspiration.