Lydia Ko in danger of missing cut at Women’s British Open

While some of the big names on the men’s circuit need huge second rounds to eke out weekend tee times at the PGA Championship, world No. 1 Lydia Ko needs some help from the field to make the Women’s British Open cut.

Ko, who will head up New Zealand’s golf entry to next month’s Olympics, made two birdies down the stretch on Friday at Woburn Golf and Country Club to get to the projected cut line of even-par with the afternoon wave of golfers getting underway. Her second-round 2-under 70 gave her a chance to continue contending for her third major trophy after she posted an atypical opener of 74.

The 14-time LPGA Tour winner, who is seeking her fifth victory of the year, began her second round in a tie for 91st and has been surprisingly errant off the tee and on the greens. While making 29 of 36 putting surfaces in regulation through 36 holes, she has hit only 20 of 28 fairways and needed 34 and 31 putts on Thursday and Friday, respectively.

“All day, I said, ‘Hey, I’ve got to make two more birdies, two more birdies,’” Ko said after Friday’s round that started with a bogey on the par-4 first hole and featured birdies on Nos. 15 and 16. “I just tried to just keep chipping away. Two good putts on 15, 16, I think that definitely helped.”

Ko’s struggles were in direct contrast to tourney leader, Mirim Lee, who tied the Women’s British Open scoring record with an opening-round 62.

“I don’t know what course Mirim Lee played yesterday,” said Ko, who has prevailed in two of the last five major events and has top-three finishes in the others.

Ko — like four-time major winner Rory McIlroy and reigning U.S. Open champion Dustin Johnson, both of whom face early exits across the Atlantic in New Jersey — has to hope those with later tee times put up some big numbers. In fact, by the time almost everyone was on the course the cut line had moved to 1-over, giving the 19-year-old some breathing room.