01인디언 웰스에서 펼쳐진 치열한 선두 경쟁
촌체바 웡라스(Cholcheva Wongras)가 2026 엡손 투어 챔피언십(Epson Tour Championship) 36홀 경기를 마친 가운데 리더보드 최상단을 차지하며 우승을 향한 유리한 고지를 점했다.
인디언 웰스에서 열린 이번 대회에서 웡라스는 대회 초반부터 뛰어난 경기 집중력을 발휘하며 2라운드까지 선두 자리를 굳건히 지켜냈다.
LPGA 투어 진출권이 걸린 중요한 무대에서 36홀 선두 자리를 확보한 웡라스가 남은 라운드에서도 우세를 이어가 최종 우승을 차지할 수 있을지 관심이 모아지고 있다.
02Original (English) — LPGA
Carly Haines is a former collegiate golfer at the University of Louisville, where she earned a BSBA in Marketing and an MBA in Innovation. She currently serves as a Marketing and Partnerships Manager for the Epson Tour.
Cholcheva Wongras backed up her opening 63 with a 2-under 69 to reach 10-under 132 at the halfway point of the 2026 Epson Tour Championship at Indian Wells, stretching her lead to two shots.
Her round was far quieter than Thursday's 8-birdie outburst — a lone bogey on the second hole was offset by birdies on the par-5 8th and the par-5 13th, and she closed with another birdie on 18 to extend the lead.
Wongras, a 2026 rookie from Chiang Mai, Thailand, has already clinched a top-15 finish on the season-long Race for the Card and a 2027 LPGA Tour card.
Mirabel Ting shot 3-under 68 to move to 8-under 134 and remain in position behind Wongras. Ting played the front nine in 3-over, with bogeys on 2, 4, and 7, before catching fire on the back nine with six birdies in her final nine holes — on 10, 13, 15, 16, 17, and 18 — to turn a mediocre front nine into a strong round.
She said the heat was as much a factor as the golf course itself: “It's more draining than actually trying to play well. … I had, I think it was Advil, after like three holes in, and I wasn't really playing well, and I think the Advil helps, and drinking a lot of water helps, and getting a little bit of sugar in my system helps a little too. I was fortunate enough down the back that I was playing a little better.”
Ting, the No. 1 player on the Race for the Card who has already clinched a 2027 LPGA Tour card in Category 9, is paired Saturday with a friend who has also already clinched her own card and won this season, and said she's looking forward to a lighter mindset over the weekend: “I feel like I've been playing a lot of golf and putting myself with that kind of pressure... just drains me a lot. ... So I'm just gonna go out there and have fun.”
The day's low round belonged to Megan Streicher, who shot a bogey-free 7-under 64 — the best round of the tournament so far — to climb from an even par opening round all the way to 7-under 135 and solo third.
Streicher opened the day dealing with a broken push cart, which she said she repaired herself: “I actually took it to a few places and they couldn't help me, and I ended up using a chopstick and kind of wedging it into place, and I'm very surprised that it worked pretty well.”
She also played the week without a caddie after her regular looper was unable to make the trip. “I've pushed my own bag for most of the events on Epson and in college, obviously, so I feel like I'm pretty comfortable just by myself and in my own head space,” Streicher said. “So I feel it works well for me.”
A 2026 rookie from Cape Town, South Africa, and a two-time All-America honorable mention at The University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill Streicher called her tee shot into the tucked pin on the par-5 10th — her best of the day — “probably my best shot of the day,” after pitching out of the rough to two feet.
A three-way tie for fourth at 6-under 136 formed behind the top three: Katherine Muzi, Amari Avery, and defending champion Anne Chen. Muzi, a USC product from Newport Beach, California, carded a 5-under 66, highlighted by four back-nine birdies (12, 13, 16, 17). Avery, also a USC alum and this year's winner of the IOA Championship — her first Epson Tour title — shot 3-under 68, with a bogey on 15 offset by birdies on 1 and 10. Chen shot 1-under 70, with a bogey on 5 wiped out by birdies on 12 and 17, to stay within four shots of the lead as she defends her title.