Mi Hyang Lee holds one-shot advantage at halfway point of Evian Championship after another impressive round

South Korea's Mi Hyang Lee leads at the halfway stage of the Evian Championship on nine-under-par ©Getty Images

South Korea’s Mi Hyang Lee holds a one shot advantage at the halfway point of the Evian Championship in France as she bids for her first major title.

Lee began the day sharing the lead with America’s Lexi Thompson on five-under-par, but the 22-year-old was able to continue her excellent start to the tournament, recording five birdies in a round of 67.

The only blemish in her performance was a bogey on the final hole of the day which saw her drop back to nine-under-par, which sees her lie narrowly ahead of United States’ Morgan Pressel, who had produced the round of the day.

Pressel achieved three birdies on the front nine holes and despite bogeying the 10th and 14th holes the American did not let the blips affect her rhythm as she racked up another five birdies to end with a six-under-par round of 65.

The American was, nevertheless, critical of her driving and believes there could be more to come in the remaining two days of the Championship.

“Any time you really shoot 65, it’s hard to nit-pick, but I’m going to go, and I didn’t hit my driver as well on the front nine as I would have liked, so there are certainly things that I can improve on,” she said.

“But I feel like mentally I stayed tough and battled through, made some birdies even after hitting poor drives, so I think that was important today, as well.”

The United States’ Morgan Pressel produced the best round of the day to lie one shot off the lead ©Getty Images

There were different fortunes, however, for her compatriot Thompson as the 20-year-old’s challenge suffered a setback, shooting a one-over-par round of 72 to drop back into the pack.

She lies level with South Korea’s Amy Yang, I.K. Kim, Ilhee Lee, New Zealand’s Lydia Ko and Thailand’s Pornanong Phatlum who are all on four-under-par, three shots adrift of Denmark’s Nicole Broch Larsen and two adrift of China’s Shanshan Feng, who occupy third and fourth of the leaderboard.

World number one Inbee Park looks unlikely to secure her third major of the year as the South Korean star is eight shots behind the leader Lee, despite carding a two-under-par round of 69 on the second day of the event.

It means she currently lies on one-under-par for the tournament alongside America’s Michelle Wie, who recovered from her poor opening day by producing an excellent five-under-par round.