Summary Stacy Lewis trail Park In-Bee by one shot after the second round in golf event at Olympics.
RIO DE JANEIRO (AFP) - American golfer Stacy Lewis, a critic of male Olympic no-shows, announced her presence Thursday with 11 birdies to surge into contention halfway through the Rio Games women s competition.
Lewis shot an 8-under-par 63 to end her second round at nine-under for the tournament -- the first women s Olympic event in 116 years.
She was just a shot back of former world number one Park In-Bee, who posted a 66 for the second straight day in Rio de Janeiro to go to 10-under.
Britain s Charley Hull and Canada s Brooke Henderson were a further shot behind Lewis at eight-under overall.
Lewis said last month it was "really disappointing" that the world s top male golfers skipped the Games.
Unlike the women s tournament, more than 20 men s stars including the four highest-ranked players stayed home.
They cited reasons ranging from the Zika virus to scheduling issues but the no-shows fuelled questions over golf s Olympic staying power.
"There are a lot of reasons maybe why we shouldn t have come, whether it was Zika or other issues... but I did my homework and nobody gave me a reason I should not come," Lewis said after Thursday s round.
"There would have to be something seriously wrong for me to not come and play in the Olympics."
Lewis struggled to a one-under 70 in the first round, but found a groove Thursday, closing with four straight birdies to take the clubhouse lead before Park ended with a three-birdie run of her own.
The tournament is the first since American Margaret Abbott won a nine-hole event at the Paris Games in 1900.
Men s golf returned earlier during the Rio Games, with Britain s Justin Rose on Sunday winning the first men s gold in 112 years in a thrilling duel with Sweden s Henrik Stenson.
South Korea s Park continued to look steady despite missing time on the pro tour lately due to a nagging thumb injury, with just one bogey so far.
She leads a team of four South Koreans who qualified for the Olympics -- more than any other nation and underlining the country s dominance of the women s game.
All four are in the top ten.
They include Chun In-Gee, who was four strokes back of Park. Her compatriots Kim Sei-Young and Amy Yang also remained in contention.
Park became the first woman to sink a hole-in-one on the par-71 Olympic course, coming in a practice round this week.
"I ve just got to try and stay as calm as I can and try to play like I did the last two days," Park said.
Lewis, the world number seven, has suggested that the greater winnings available to male pros compared to women may have caused their top stars to undervalue playing for one s country.
She added that their absences could hurt women Olympians by endangering golf s place in the Games.
But Lewis insisted she started Thursday s round thinking less about that than about how angry she was with the day before, when she couldn t find a rhythm.
"(It was) frustrating that the golf swing wasn t there and hadn t been for a few days," she said.
"Sometimes when I get made I get more focussed."
She carded one bogey and a double on Thursday, but also rolled in six putts of 10 feet or more including a near-30-footer on the par-four 11th hole.
"Anytime you see putts going in, it kind of frees up the swing a little bit more," Lewis said.
