LANCASTER, Pa. — Wichanee Meechai became the latest surprise in a U.S. Women’s Open filled with them. She started Friday with four straight birdies and matched the low score of the week with a 3-under 67 for a two-shot lead going into a weekend that won’t include Nelly Korda.

Meechai is a 31-year-old Thai whose only victory recognized by the women’s world ranking was nine years ago on the Taiwan LPGA. She had never finished in the top 10 in her 20 previous appearances in the majors.

She went from five shots ahead of Andrea Lee to two shots behind in a span of five holes. Meechai steadied herself with two birdies over the last six holes to finish at 4-under 136, two shots in front of Lee with only two other players under par.

A pair of former Women’s Open champions, Minjee Lee (69) and Yuka Saso (71) were three shots back at Lancaster Country Club.

“I feel like I might not be making a lot of birdies on the easier courses. I’m not that person,” Meechai said in trying to explain her 36-hole lead in a major. “I like when you need to think a lot, when you need to land it shorter and be patient.”

That worked to perfection on her opening four holes, all birdie putts inside 6 feet.

“I just picked the club that’s shorter and hit it hard,” she said.

The week started with a surprise announcement by Lexi Thompson that she will retire from a full schedule at the end of the year. Her 18th and most likely final U.S. Women’s Open ended early with rounds of 78-75.

It will end with Korda back home in Florida, missing the cut for the time in nearly a year.

Korda got a small measure of revenge on the par-3 12th, where on Thursday she hit into the water three times and made a career-worst 10 on her way to an 80. This time the pin was to the back, not the front, and she came up so short with a chunky 8-iron and it appeared certain her golf ball would roll back into the water.

It was held up by a patch of grass. She jabbed a pitch to 20 feet and holed the par putt, smiled and offered a playful expletive at the green.

“I wanted to make a birdie to get my revenge on that hole, but par will do,” she said.

She should have saved those words for her golf. Korda, who came into the Women’s Open having won six of her last seven tournaments, ran off three straight birdies toward the end of the front nine to get in range of the cut.

But she didn’t hit the ball well off the tee, or from the fairway when given the chance. She had only four looks at birdie on the back nine, shot 70 and missed the cut by two.

“When I made those three birdies in a row, I wanted to make the cut,” Korda said. “I knew that I was kind of hovering around it, and I just couldn’t get anything going on the back.”

Also missing the cut were Rose Zhang, Lydia Ko, Brooke Henderson and defending Women’s Open champion Allisen Corpuz.

Among those sticking around was 15-year-old Asterisk Talley — her first name is Greek for “little star” — who had 15 pars in her round of 71 and was in a group at 1-over 141 that included U.S. Women’s Amateur champion Megan Schofill.

Lee delivered a stretch even more impressive than Meechai, hers coming in the middle of the round. The Stanford alum was on the ropes and in a bunker on No. 1 — her 10th hole of the round — when her shot rolled true to a back pin and dropped for eagle.

Lee followed with three straight birdies, and suddenly was two clear of Meechai in the group behind her. Lee three-putted from 30 feet for bogey on No. 5, and failed to save par from a bunker on the par-3 eighth.

She will be in the last group Saturday, with Minjee Lee and Saso ahead of them and with far more experience in dealing with such a stern test.

Ryan Fox, Robert MacIntyre

share RBC Canadian Open

HAMILTON, Ontario — Ryan Fox closed with a 14-foot birdie putt late Friday afternoon for a 6-under 64 and a share of the second-round lead with Robert MacIntyre in the RBC Canadian Open.

Finishing on the front nine at Hamilton Golf and Country Club, Fox birdied the par-5 fourth and par-4 fifth, then rebounded from a bogey on the par-3 sixth with the birdie on the par-4 ninth. The 37-year-old New Zealander is winless in 47 career PGA Tour starts.

“I drove it great, I hit may irons really well and had a few more putts drop today,” said Fox, the the son of former New Zealand rugby star Grant Fox. “It could have been really silly, but I still had a lot of good putts.”

MacIntyre had a 66 in the morning for his second straight bogey-free round. The 27-year-old Scottish left-hander is winless in 44 career PGA Tour starts.

“When I missed the green I’ve had a good short game,” MacIntyre said. “To be honest, I think I’ve missed it in the right spots. I miss it fat side of the green, not short-sided and we can kind of run it. If not, we fly it over it.”

The leaders were at 10-under 130 on the traditional layout.

“Golf course kind of suits my eye,” Fox said. “Similar grass to what we play at home. Similar kind of old style, tree-lined golf course, which is what I grew up on.”

Joel Dahmen was third, two strokes back after a 65.

“I believe I should be here. It’s where I’m supposed to be, so I’m excited to hit golf shots under the gun on the weekend,” Dahmen said. “I haven’t done that in a long time, so I’m excited for that.”

Canadian Mackenzie Hughes had two eagles — and two closing bogeys — in a 64 to join first-round leader David Skinns and Andrew Novak at 7 under.

“I’ve had a few minutes to process the round and kind of the whole day, and while the finish was disappointing, I look at the whole body of work,” Hughes said. “If you told me I was going to shoot 64, I would have taken it. It gets me into contention for the weekend and that’s all I can ask for.”

Defending champion Nick Taylor missed the cut with rounds of 72 and 71. Last year at Oakdale in Toronto, he made an 80-foot eagle putt in a playoff to become the first Canadian to win the event since 1954.

Two-time Canadian Open champion Rory McIlroy, was 2 under, following a 66 on Thursday with a 72 playing alongside Taylor. McIlroy won in 2019 the last time the tournament was in Hamilton and again in 2022 at St. George’s in Toronto.

Skinns followed his opening 62 with a 71.

“I just couldn’t get a putt to go in, that’s really the story,” Skinns said. “It wasn’t that much different. It looks a lot different on the scorecard, but it wasn’t that much different.”

Novak shot 67.