ERIN, Wis. >> Mao Saigo posted a 6-under 66 to lead the U.S. Women’s Open after the second round’s Friday morning groupings at Erin Hills as she looks to win her second major of the year.

Saigo’s two-day total of 8-under 136 gives her a three-stroke advantage over Nelly Korda, the world’s top-ranked player.

Korda moved into second place by posting a 67. This was the best U.S. Women’s Open round ever for Korda, who has never finished higher than a tie for eighth in this event.

“I feel like I’ve had a very complicated relationship with U.S. Opens,” Korda said, “but I’m happy to be in the position I am heading into the weekend.”

Saigo earned her first LPGA Tour title just over a month ago in the year’s first major, as she sank a birdie putt to win a five-way playoff in the Chevron Championship at The Club at Carlton Woods in The Woodlands, Texas.

The 23-year-old from Japan bounced back from some early misfortune Friday to move atop the leaderboard.

Saigo started out at No. 10 and birded No. 11 and No. 12. She bogeyed the par-5 No. 14 when she got a bad break, with her third shot hitting the flagstick, bouncing backward and rolling all the way to a bunker. But she recovered by getting four birdies in a five-hole stretch from No. 16 to No. 2.

“I thought that was not my mistake,” Saigo said through an interpreter. “I just thought to myself that it was just unlucky, and then I just changed my mind.”

Korda was nearly as effective. After not making a birdie until her 18th hole Thursday, Korda had seven of them Friday thanks to her improved putting.

“Honestly, I was hitting really good putts yesterday,” Korda said. “I was hitting it exactly where I wanted to and they just weren’t falling. It was one of those days. Today I did the same thing.”

Jing Yan, Linn Grant and Chiara Tamburlini all finished their Friday morning sessions at 4 under for the tournament, putting them four strokes behind Saigo. Tamburlini was tied with Korda for second place before getting a bogey on No. 18.

Thursday’s first round had ended with Angel Yin, Julia Lopez Ramirez, 2020 champion A Lim Kim, Jinhee Im, Yealimi Noh and Rio Takeda in a six-way tie for the lead after all of them carded 68.

Lopez Ramirez posted a 74 and Yin recorded a 75 on Friday morning, putting Lopez Ramirez at 2 under and Yin at 1 under for the tournament. Kim, Im, Noh and Takeda were set to tee off Friday afternoon on a course that measured 6,809 yards for the second round.

Taylor makes it look easy in the rain and shares the lead at Memorial

Nick Taylor brought his best golf on a day that required no less at the Memorial.

He putted for birdie on all but one hole Friday, somehow kept bogeys off his card and had a 4-under 68 that gave him a share of the lead with Ben Griffin.

Taylor faced the worst of the weather, a rain that wouldn’t quit, and the Canadian leaned on his college days as a Washington Huskie. He doesn’t like these conditions, but he’s knows them.

Most impressive was keeping the stress at a minimum.

“It was a clean card, which was not necessarily what I expected,” Taylor said. “But it was nice to keep it as simple as possible.”

Griffin caught a slight break in the afternoon when the rain relented and Muirfield Village was soft. He had 16 pars, a birdie and a bogey for a 72 that put him at 7-under 137 with Taylor.

Akshay Bhatia (69) was two shots behind, followed by defending champion Scottie Scheffler. The world’s No. 1 player always seems to be lurking, and his 70 was probably as high as he could have shot the way he was hitting the ball in the rain.

Scheffler missed a trio of birdie chances inside 10 feet on the front nine, hit wedge into the water on the 14th for bogey but otherwise was never too far away.

“Really a lot of good ball striking on the front nine to get me a good score there,” he said.

It was the highest 36-hole score to lead the Memorial since 2012. The rain was merely a nuisance that added to what already is a difficult test with rough that players feel will get them prepared for the U.S. Open in two weeks at Oakmont.

“The rough is almost second-to-none, at least for a ‘regular’ tour event,” Taylor said. “Torrey Pines was pretty thick this year. Bay Hill is always thick. But it seems to be just a little bit thicker here, playing that much more difficult.

“You can catch a break here or there, but you just got to be in the fairway.”