Charley Hoffman and Ryan Palmer lead QBE Shootout, Nelly Korda and Denny McCarthy make rapid finish

Nelly Korda and Lexi Thompson continued to impress at the QBE Shootout, but lost ground on leaders Charley Hoffman and Ryan Palmer.

The two stars of the LPGA Tour are competing alongside the men in the team format, with Korda partnering Denny McCarthy and Thompson with Maverick McNealy.

They were four shots off the lead after round one and both partnerships made slow starts on Saturday, but came good on the back nine at Tiburon Golf Club.

Korda and McCarthy could have been forgiven for wilting after a shuddering double bogey on the 11th, but both caught fire with a brilliant run of scoring.

They made five birdies and an eagle in their final six holes to leap up the leaderboard.

World No. 2 Korda has few weaknesses, but her short game is a particular strength and she showed it by chipping in for birdies on 16 and 18, while McCarthy holed a monster putt on to get to 17-under.

“It was quite and up-and-down round,” McCarthy said. “I thought we played nice on the front and did not make anything.

“After 11, we were like ‘golf is fun, golf is supposed to be fun.’ We had nothing to lose, kept a good attitude.”

On her brilliant chipping, Korda said: “To make a birdie like that is special. To end our round after being two-over is pretty special too.”

Second Round Leaderboard

• 1. Charley Hoffman & Ryan Palmer, 26-under
• 2. Tom Hoge & Sahith Theegala, 24-under
• T3. Jason Day & Billy Horschel, 22-under
• T3. Harris English & Matt Kuchar, 22-under
• 5. Max Homa & Kevin Kisner, 21-under
• 6. Steve Stricker & Cameron Young, 19-under
• 7. Corey Conners & KH Lee, 18-under
• T8. Nelly Korda & Denny McCarthy, 17-under
• T8. Maverick McNealy & Lexi Thompson, 17-under
• T8. Trey Mullinax & Scott Stallings, 17-under
• T11. Keith Mitchell & JJ Spaun, 15-under
• T11. Brian Harman & Sepp Straka, 15-under

It was a similar story for Thompson and McNealy. After a birdie on the first, they went cold until a run of red numbers on the back nine to get to 17-under.

They made 10 birdies in a blemish-free round of 62 to move to 26-under, two clear of Tom Hoge and Sahith Theegala.

Jason Day and Billy Horschel began the day in 11th of the 12-team field, but surged into contention after a round of 61 to get to 22-under.

“This is the tougher of the two formats,” Horschel said of the greensomes, which followed Friday’s scramble. “We were both disappointed… we did not play badly yesterday, we just did not make any putts and we felt down about the round.

“We came out today and he hit some great iron shots, I made some putts and that was kind of how it worked all day. It was a beautiful round of golf we played.”

Day added: “I feel like Billy has improved so much over the years and has put a lot of work into his putting. I have had a good fall with my irons and I hit a lot of quality shots out there and wanted to give him as many chances as possible.”

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