Semi-retired Lexi Thompson is going into the weekend contending for her first major title in more than a decade, and in a dwindling group of players under par at the KMPG Women’s PGA Championship while Jeeno Thitikul extended her lead.

Thitikul, the No. 2-ranked player in the world, finished a six-hour round Friday not long before sunset with consecutive birdies for a 2-under 70 to get to 6-under 138. She had a three-stroke lead over Rio Takeda (71) and Minjee Lee (72), and was four ahead of Thompson (70) after another steamy day on the Fields Ranch East course at PGA Frisco in Texas.

“To be honest, didn’t (think) it’s going to be that good result out there,” said Thitikul, 22, seeking her first major win. “Especially today just said to my coach, ‘Like if anybody can shoot under par today, that player will be really, really great.’ I’m shooting 2-under par and I was like, `Wow!”

With the feel-like temperatures going over 100 degrees and the ever-present Texas wind, only seven of the 156 players who started the season’s third major were under par through two rounds. There have been no bogey-free rounds this week.

There were 15 players under par after the first round, when Thitikul’s opening 68 put her a stroke ahead of fellow North Texas resident Lee.

Thitikul, a five-time winner from Thailand, was in the same group the first two rounds with top-ranked Nelly Korda, whose only two birdies Friday came over the final three holes. Korda had a 74 and is 2 over for the week.

PGA Tour

Scottie Scheffler provided hope with a late double bogey. Tommy Fleetwood charged through with two eagles in three holes, and so did Justin Thomas with five straight birdies. They wound up tied for the lead on a blustery day at the Travelers Championship in Cromwell, Conn.

All it took was the fate of the wind, good or bad, to shape the leaderboard going into the weekend at the TPC River Highlands, with 12 players separated by four shots.

Scheffler was comfortably in front when the left-to-right wind his tee shot had been riding laid down, sending his ball into the fairway bunker on the par-4 17th. He put the next one in the water, barely reached the green with his fourth shot and made double bogey. He wound up with a 1-under 69.

Fleetwood felt the wind going right-to-left, then slightly hurting, then slightly helping on the par-5 13th. He had 240 yards to at least cover the water, 264 yards to the hole, and he felt his 9-wood would at least reach the green.

“I just sort of caught the right moment,” said Fleetwood, who also chipped in for eagle on the reachable 15th and shot 65. “Came off perfect and then beautiful putt.”

Thomas wished he could have hit the ball a little better off the tee, but he stayed out of trouble, stayed patient and cashed in on the back nine with his five straight birdies, two of them from the 25-foot range, that led to a 64.

They were at 9-under 131, a shot ahead of Jason Day (66).

Rory McIlroy battled for a 71, leaving him only four back.

PGA Tour Champions

Tim Petrovic shot a 4-under 66 for a share of second-round lead with Steven Alker and Ricardo Gonzalez in the Kaulig Companies Championship, the third major of the year on the PGA Tour Champions in Akron, Ohio.

Petrovic closed with a birdie on the par-4 ninth to match Alker and Gonzalez at 5-under 135 at Firestone South. Alker, from New Zealand, had a 66. Gonzalez, the Argentine who shared the first-round lead with Soren Kjeldsen, shot 68.

Miguel Angel Jimenez was a stroke back after a 66. Angel Cabrera, who already has won two majors this year at the Regions Tradition and the Senior PGA Championship at Congressional, was 1 under after a 68.