Japan's Furue leads Evian; rain suspends round

Japan’s Ayaka Furue held a three-shot clubhouse lead at the Evian Championship on Friday before the second round was suspended because of a risk of lightning and thunder.

Organizers decided to evacuate players from the golf course in the afternoon because of the adverse weather conditions in the region of Evian and decided to stop play for the rest of the day after 6 p.m. local time as the storm intensified.

With five holes left to play in her second round, Furue was 6 under after 31 holes, leading Stephanie Kyriacou of Australia and Haeran Ryu of South Korea. Both players were at 9 under overall and sat at 4 under par in their second round.

Kyriacou completed 16 holes in her second round, and Ryu was through 11.

American Angela Stanford, who won her first major title at the 2018 Evian Championship, was in a tie for fourth place with Patty Tavatanakit at 8 under.

Defending champion Celine Boutier shot a second-round 68 and lay at 5 under.

“I feel like my game has been very solid the last two days,” Boutier said. “I definitely feel like my long game has been kind of carrying me, and I feel like I could have shot a few strokes lower yesterday and today so that’s pretty positive. Because I can improve. Just a few putts here and there and we’ll be in good position.”

A total of 66 players will return on Saturday to complete their second rounds before the cut is made.