EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France >> Top-ranked amateur Lottie Woad is living up to her pre-tournament billing and in contention at the halfway point of the Evian Championship.

Keeping pace with world No. 1 Nelly Korda, Woad — coming off a remarkable six-stroke win on the Ladies European Tour — shot 2-under 69 on Friday to move onto 5-under par after the second round of the fourth major of the year in women’s golf.

Woad was in a tie for 12th place and five shots off the lead held by Somi Lee of South Korea.

“Definitely a bit nervous,” Woad said, “but it’s also exciting at the same time.”

A top-25 finish at Evian Resort Golf Club will secure Woad enough qualifying points to seal LPGA Tour membership through its elite amateur pathway, if she wants to end her college career at Florida State a year early.

But she has been thinking bigger than that.

“I’m only, like, five back,” she said. “Yeah, just trying to play well tomorrow and see what happens.”

Woad birdied two of her last three holes to move into a tie with Korda, who is seeking her first title of the season and a third major title.

The top-ranked American was 4 over after seven holes following a double at No. 16 — the seventh hole of her round — but she eagled the 18th and had three birdies in her second nine.

Minjee Lee, the No. 6-ranked Australian and the winner of the Women’s PGA Championship last month, was also in the group on 5-under par overall after a level-par 71.

Somi Lee is coming off a victory at the Dow Championship team event with Jin Hee Im last month for her first LPGA Tour win.

Ranked No. 56, she made six birdies and an eagle for a 65 to move onto 10 under.

Grace Kim of Australia was a shot back in second place after a 68 and Jennifer Kupcho (69) of the United States, a major winner in 2022 at the Chevron Championship, was in third a further stroke back.

No. 2-ranked Jeeno Thitikul was also in contention, after a second straight round of 68 left her in a tie for seventh.

No. 3-ranked Lydia Ko (74) and No. 4-ranked Ruoning Yin (73) missed the cut, which was at 2 over, along with recent U.S. Women’s Open winner Maja Stark (74).

Gotterup cards a 61, leads Scottish Open

The hardest task for Chris Gotterup was waking up Friday. Once he got going, he never really stopped until he tied the course record with a 9-under 61 and wound up with a two-shot lead going into the weekend at the Scottish Open.

Gotterup rolled in three long putts and was long as ever off the tee, seizing on a spectacular day of sunshine and very little wind in the morning at The Renaissance Club. Harry Hall (64) was two shots behind, and a refreshed Ludvig Aberg (65) led a group that was three shots back.

Aberg is coming off just the break he needed — a trip home to Sweden for the first time in a year, a chance to see friends and eat his mother’s special sausage and get refreshed.

He overcame a bogey-bogey start with eight birdies over his next 15 holes. That made him the only player from among the top five who played in the afternoon, when the wind kicked up along the Firth of Forth and the course became firm and bouncy enough to frustrate Scottie Scheffler and plenty of others.

Scheffler, the world’s No. 1 player, had a pair of three-putts and at one point after watching a putt bounce off line he extended his arm with his thumb up in mock celebration. It wasn’t all that bad. He still shot 68 and was six shots behind.

Gotterup, the Rutgers star who finished his final season at Oklahoma, was at 11-under 129. Rory McIlroy had five birdies on the back nine (he started on No. 10) and turned that into a 65 to join the group at 7-under 133. Xander Schauffele, who defends his title next week in the British Open, was five shots back after a 66.

Schauffele rarely gets frustrated by anything, much less a score like 66. This was different. The weather was as ideal as it can get in these parts, not so much a full blue sky and a bright sun, but only a wee breeze. “It was there for the taking,” Schauffele said.

That’s exactly what Gotterup did. He’s still a little jet-lagged and struggled to deal with a 5:15 a.m. alarm when he would have rather slept in. But then he saw a 45-foot birdie putt drop on the second hole.

He hit it close for a few more birdies. He made a 30-footer on the tough seventh hole. And he closed out the front nine at 29 after making birdie from 20 feet.

Three more birdies over the next five holes got him to 9 under. Two more birdies — one hole was a par 5 — would have allowed him to break 60.

“That didn’t cross my brain at all,” Gotterup said. “I thought 10 (under) would be cool. I think it’s still my lowest round in tournament golf. I have no complaints.”