Lexi Thompson shot 72 on Friday at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, taking the good with the bad but concentrating on the former.

After shooting even-par, she was at 4 under for the tournament and in a good position to snap her five-year winless streak on the LPGA Tour. She is two back of co-leaders Sarah Schmelzel (67) and Amy Yang (68), tied for third with Jin Young Ko (68) and Hinako Shibuno (70).

After shooting 68 on the first eight holes of Round 2, Thompson at Sahalee Country Club in Sammamish, Washington, increased her lead with three birdies.

Thompson’s 11th hole of the day, the par-5 second, was problematic when she began her round on the back nine. Her second shot found the left rough, her tee shot the right. After pitching out on her third attempt, she eventually made it to the green, albeit 43 feet away from the hole.

From there, Thompson three-putted for a 7. Her tee ball struck trees at the fourth hole, her second missed opportunity, and she traded a birdie at the sixth with a bogey at the eighth.

It all comes down to patience. Every day you come out here, you know you’re going to hit some awful shots that the trees might punish you for. You have to take your medicine, which is to pitch out or simply get it back in place, according to Thompson.

“Take advantage of the few birdie opportunities you come across; there will be bogeys.”

Thompson is aiming for her first major championship triumph since 2014 as well as her first tour win since June 2019.

Thompson came close to winning the Meijer LPGA Classic last week after declaring during the U.S. Women’s Open that she would no longer be playing full-time on tour beginning the next year. She narrowly missed winning with a chip on the 72nd hole, losing to Lilia Vu in a three-way playoff with Grace Kim.

Thompson said it’s not a surprise that she finds herself playing well.

“I had been hoping for it,” she grinned. “I worked really hard during the few weeks off before Michigan (Meijer). I spent five to seven hours a day at the golf course in the summertime in Florida, trying to figure out something that finally made sense.

She claimed that after playing 36 holes in the Pacific Northwest last week, she “latched on to something with my game.”

She also won’t think about what went wrong on Friday afternoon.

“I stayed positive and made a birdie on the back nine as well as some good putts, even though I made a double and bogey on the back, but it could have been worse,” the woman remarked.

“I’m just going to keep improving, not really focusing on anything else, and carry that over to the weekend.”