Sixteen-year-old Lexi Thompson will take a two-stroke lead into the third round of play at the Navistar LPGA Classic outside Montgomery, Ala. Thompson sits at 10-under-par after shooting a 68 in Friday’s second round and she’ll be paired in the final group on Saturday with Rolex Rankings No. 11 Stacy Lewis and Wales native Becky Morgan.

Thompson followed up her first-round 66 with another impressive round, tallying five birdies and one bogey on Friday. It’s the second time that Thompson has held the lead after two rounds at the Navistar LPGA Classic, as she also did it back in 2009.

This week marks Thompson’s eighth start on the LPGA this season. Her best finish in those starts this season was a T19 at the Avnet LPGA Classic in Mobile, Ala., which is also played on one of the courses on the Robert Trent Jones Golf Trail. She entered the final round of the Avnet LPGA Classic this year tied for the lead but went on to shoot a 78 on Sunday.

“I'm going to try to forget about Avnet, what I did the last day,” Thompson said. “I'm just going to try to go into the weekend and play like I did the last two days: just relax and calm and just swing freely.”

Thompson is having a good summer, which included her winning the first stage of LPGA Q School by 10 shots back in July. Now she’ll try to see if she can improve upon her career-best finish, which was a tie for second at the 2010 Evian Masters. This will be the third time in Thompson’s career that she’s been paired in the final group on the LPGA Tour. And helping with Thompson’s comfort level is the fact that she is familiar with her playing partners, having even been paired with Lewis for a few rounds during the Ladies European Tour’s Irish Women’s Open this summer.

“They're great players so I'm looking forward to it,” Thompson said. “Just going to try to play consistently like I did the last few days.”

Finding that consistency
Stacy Lewis is tied for second with Becky Morgan at 8-under-par after shooting her second straight round of 68 on Friday. But finding herself near the top of the leaderboard is nothing new for Lewis this season.

Since becoming a Rolex First-Time Winner at the Kraft Nabisco Championship in early April, Lewis has tallied six top-8 finishes. Four of those top-8 finishes have come in Lewis’ last five tournaments and twice during that stretch she recorded a runner-up finish (Evian Masters and the CN Canadian Women’s Open). Prior to her win at Kraft, Lewis had recorded a total of 10 top-10 finishes in her career since 2007.

“My friends are like, I'm not going to tell you good playing anymore. We're tired of hearing it,” Lewis said with a laugh. “But it's so nice to be there [near the top of the leaderboard]. It's getting comfortable there, and I think the more I'm there the more comfortable I'm going to be, especially coming down the stretch on Sunday.”

Could this be the time?
Ten-year LPGA Tour veteran Becky Morgan could be on the cusp of earning her first LPGA Tour victory after rounds of 67-69 have her two-strokes behind leader Lexi Thompson heading into the weekend.

Morgan who has played on both the Ladies European Tour (LET) and LPGA has struggled this season missing six out of 12 cuts including last week’s NW Arkansas Championship Presented by P&G. The Welsh earned her best finish this year at the CN Canadian Women’s Open after she finished tied for 16th.

“I didn't play well last week and then played well in Canada, so my finish in Canada was good for me,” said Morgan. I didn't have a great Sunday, the conditions were tough, but I played really well for three days there, so it kind of boosted my confidence.”

Boost her confidence indeed, Morgan’s first-round five-under par 67’s ties the best round of the season which included seven birdies and two bogeys. While Morgan is pleased with her solid start this week, she knows there is still room for improvement this weekend.

“I actually left a few out there today,” said Morgan. “I'm not complaining, but I probably putted better yesterday.”

Staying on for the weekend
A total of 74 players made the cut which fell at 2-over-par 146

Putting Woes
For just the fifth time since 2006 U.S. Solheim Cup team member Cristie Kerr will not be around for the weekend. The 14 time LPGA Tour winner fired rounds of 73-74 to end the two days at 3-over par and miss the cut which landed at 2-over par. From 2008-2010, Kerr failed to miss a cut and earned 40 top-10 finishes including four victories.

Kerr, who is known for her lights out putting, averaged an uncharacteristic 33 putts during this week’s first two rounds. Kerr currently leads the Tour in putts per green in regulation and tenth in putting average at 28.93.

Birdies for a cause
This year's Navistar LPGA Classic Presented by Monaco RV is going above and beyond to help raise funds for this year's beneficiary, the Wounded Warrior Project. The 152-yard par-3 16th has been designated as the "military hole". Navistar will donate $100 for every birdie made during this year's tournament to the Wounded Warrior Project. Over the past four years, the hole has averaged 83 birdies. In addition, a member of the military will be on the green to tend the flag during tournament play.

During Friday’s second round the 16th hole notched 45 birdies which raised $4,500 for the Wounded Warrior Project. In total, 60 birdies have been made on the hole over the first two rounds equaling a donation of $6,000.

Of Note
Defending champion Katherine Hull shot 70 for the second straight day and is tied for 11th at 4-under-par. Hull had missed four straight cuts leading into this week’s event…Meena Lee shot the low round of the tournament so far with a career-best 8-under 64 in Friday’s second round. Lee is tied for fourth at 7-under-par….17-year-old amateur and Huntsville, Ala. native Janie Jackson, who earned a spot in the field during Monday’s qualifier, shot a 5-under 67 to finish at 1-over-par and make the cut. Jackson is a senior in high school and will be attending the University of Arizona next year.