(Reuters) - Inbee Park was unable to hit the heights of her opening round but a three-under-par 69 gave her a share of the lead with fellow South Korean Park Hee-young at the halfway stage of the HSBC Women's World Championship in Singapore on Friday.
Park Hee-young drained a 10-foot birdie putt at the last for a 68 to join the seven-times major winner on 11-under for the tournament, two shots in front of compatriot Kim Hyo-joo (68) and China's Lin Xiyu (68).
Carlota Ciganda shot a 67 on another sweltering day at the Sentosa Golf Club course and that earned the Spaniard a share of fifth place with Ryu So-yeon (69) on eight-under.
Overnight leader Inbee Park, who won the title in 2015 and 2017, shot a blemish-free 64 on Thursday but took a while to find her putting touch in her second round, dropping a shot at the third.
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She drilled in a lengthy putt across the seventh green for her first birdie, however, and two more followed at the next two holes.
Another bogey at the 12th was offset by a birdie from another fine putt at the next hole and the 32-year-old picked up one more shot at the short 15th.
Early starter Hannah Green fired a 66 for the joint best round of the day, tearing up her front nine with five birdies and adding two more after the turn.
The Australian, who was joint third at the LA Open last week, will go into the weekend in a share of seventh on nine-under with Lydia Ko, British Open champion Sophia Popov and two other players.
(Reporting by Nick Mulvenney; Editing by Emelia Sithole-Matarise)