EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France – Taking advantage of an earlier start time to get ahead of bad weather, Mi Hyang Lee surged to a 4-under 67 on Friday to take a one-shot lead into the weekend at the Evian Championship.

The 37th-ranked Lee was at even through 15 holes on the day before a birdie-birdie-eagle finish in the best of still conditions. Her clubhouse target of 10-under 132 only got tougher as threatened lightning strikes forced a delay and the heat was swept away by gusting winds.

Top-ranked Sung Hyun Park, also playing early, plus seven-time major winner Inbee Park and Hyo Joo Kim, thriving after a suspension that lasted 1 hour, 5 minutes, were one shot back.

Lee cited good fortune in leading the newest women's major at the midway point.

"I think I missed a lot of the green today, but was trying to think simple," said Lee, a two-time winner on the LPGA Tour. "I had a little luck also."

Sung Hyun Park shot a bogey-free 5-under 66 but wasted a chance to lead. She three-putted the 18th for the second straight day.

"I knew I had to score low for the first and second rounds, so I was a little aggressive," Park said through a translator, noting a forecast calling for rain through the weekend.

The late-afternoon delay disrupted first-round leader Paula Creamer, who was 9 under after making birdie on the 12th. Shortly thereafter, storm clouds moved on Evian Resort Golf Club.

Creamer returned on the 13th green and missed a 6-foot putt for her first bogey of the tournament. She dropped shots on Nos. 14 and 15 as the wind whipped up, then made a triple-bogey 6 after finding water at the par-3 16th.

Another bogey at No. 17 left Creamer seven shots worse off since the stoppage - giving back all she gained in a 64 during Thursday's heat wave. Her 76 left her tied for 25th at 2 under.

"Unfortunately, this time it got me," the 2010 U.S. Women's Open champion said of the weather delay. "I was playing great, really consistent."

Playing partners Inbee Park and Kim coped better, and Park credited the steep drop in temperature with helping her make three late birdies in a round of 68.

"Maybe I needed a break because of the heat," she said, though the changing wind direction made judging distances tough. "We were definitely on the wrong side of the draw."

Former No. 1 Shanshan Feng (66) was alone in fifth at 7 under. Feng, who won her only major at the 2012 LPGA Championship, missed the cut at the three previous majors this season.

"Finally get to see me on the weekend at a major," Feng said.

A group at 6 under included Caroline Hedwall of Sweden, who also shot 64, and Americans Jennifer Kupcho and Amy Olson. Kupcho won the Augusta National Women's Amateur in April and has since turned professional.

Last year at Evian, Olson led for most of the weekend and was still one shot clear on the 18th tee, but she closed with a double bogey and finished one shot behind Angela Stanford. It was her career-best result in a major.

"A little bit of mixed feelings," Olson said about being back at Evian. "Obviously I played well last year. I'm not going to say it still doesn't hurt."

Stanford relinquished her title after a 74 left her at 8-over 150, six strokes outside the cut line.

The highest-ranked American, No. 3 Lexi Thompson, shot 72 to finish at 7 over and was unhappy with the condition of the course and the way she felt good tee shots were punished.

"I'm actually very thankful that I don't have to put myself thru that for another two days," Thompson wrote on Instagram . "You're a beautiful place Evian but that's just too many bad breaks with good shots for me, so bye."

That left the weekend free to prepare for the Women's British Open, the year's final major that begins Thursday in Woburn, England.

No U.S. player has won a major this season. Americans have taken home at least one of the five major titles each year since the Evian tournament was raised in status for the 2013 edition.

Organizers brought tee times forward Saturday for the second straight day.

At No. 838 in the Women’s World Amateur Golf Ranking, Jillian Bourdage was easily the lowest-ranked quarterfinalist at this year’s U.S Girls’ Junior. The closest player to her was Lauren Beaudreau, at No. 556.

Yet through five days of play at SentryWorld in Stevens Point, Wis., Bourdage continues to prove that her ranking is just a number.

The 17-year-old Ohio State commit from Tamarac, Fla., defeated Beaudreau, 2 and 1, and top-seeded and 25^th-ranked Yuko Saso, 2 up, ro advance to Saturday’s 36-hole final against No. 69 Lei Ye, an 18-year-old Stanford signee from China.

Most impressively, Bourdage has yet to trail in match play this week. She never led Saso by more than 2 up before birdieing each of her final two holes to win the match. (Her birdie on No. 17 came from 16 feet as heavy rain briefly came down.)

“This week my confidence has grown with each round, and I'm just super happy to see that all my hard work has been paying off, especially on the short game and the putting, because I've been struggling with that a little bit for the past couple months,” Bourdage said. “I'm making some good putts out there under pressure, and that's definitely a confidence booster.”

Now, Bourdage will get a second opportunity to play for a USGA championship; she and partner Casey Weidenfeld lost in the championship match at this year’s U.S. Women’s Amateur Four-Ball.

But she'll have to go through Ye, who punched her ticket to the final with a 1-up win over future Stanford teammate Brooke Seay and a 3-and-2 win over Tennessee signee Nicole Whiston. Ye is also a past Four-Ball runner-up, falling in the 2018 final with partner Ya Chun Chung.

Both finalists are now exempt into next month’s U.S. Women’s Amateur at Old Waverly Golf Club in West Point, Miss. The winner will receive invites to the 2020 U.S. Women’s Open and 2020 Augusta National Women’s Amateur.

The bad weather that plagued the Evian Championship’s move to September as a major championship seems determined to remain part of the event’s summer script, too.

At least it seems that way this year.

With the Evian Championship moved back to July, in hopes of escaping the area’s rainy season, there appears to be no escape this weekend, with thunderstorms forecast Saturday. The event’s tee times and TV schedule have been moved up as a response. Players will go off in threesomes on the first and 10th tees beginning at 1 a.m. ET, with the leaders scheduled to go off at 3:01 a.m. ET. Golf Channel’s coverage will air from 3-8:30 a.m. ET. CNBC will air tape delayed coverage from 9-11:30 a.m. ET.

There were also weather issues late in the afternoon Friday, with play halted for 1 hour and 5 minutes with lightning in the area.

After two days in Memphis, an unlikely leader has emerged at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational. Here's a look at where things stand entering the weekend at TPC Southwind:

Leaderboard: Matthew Fitzpatrick (-9), Billy Horschel (-7), Patrick Cantlay (-7), Cameron Smith (-7), Jon Rahm (-7)

What it means: What a difference a few days makes. Fitzpatrick is one of the shortest hitters in the field, and on Tuesday he hit 4-iron into the par-4 ninth in wet conditions. But with TPC Southwind playing firm and fast, Fitzpatrick had a wedge into the ninth on Friday. He made birdie, one of his seven on the day, and posted 6-under 64. The 24-year-old Englishman, who was a "little surprised" with how the course has evolved to play right into his hands, tops the PGA Tour’s non-member points list with 545 points, easily enough to lock up his card for next season. But as for the FedExCup Playoffs, Fitzpatrick needs to win this week to qualify.

Round of the day: Fitzpatrick’s 64 was the 2013 U.S. Amateur champion’s best on Tour. It started with four straight birdies and had just one blemish, a bogey on the par-3 eighth.

Best of the rest: Jim Furyk was nine shots better on Friday, shooting 65 to move inside the top 30 at 1 under. Horschel nearly shot 65, as well, but he bogeyed No. 9 to shoot 66 and drop back into a logjam for second at 7 under.

Biggest disappointment: Bryson DeChambeau played his final seven holes in 8 over to shoot 74 and plummet to 1 over.

Biggest storyline heading into the weekend: A day after firing 62, Rahm went 12 holes without a birdie before carding three late to manage a second-round 71. But the young Spaniard, just two back, remains the favorite in this star-studded field – but only slightly. He’ll likely have some fierce challengers in Brooks Koepka and Justin Rose, who are in the top 10, each just four back. Rory McIlroy is another shot behind them. Even Dustin Johnson, who won on this course last year and is just 2 under, has a shot to make a run.

MEMPHIS, Tenn. – Max Homa is no stranger to the tone that Twitter can take. But following a first-round 74 at the WGC-FedEx St. Jude Invitational, the social-media conversation took a particularly nasty turn when a few fantasy-golf enthusiasts criticized his play.

“I was just pooping on people telling me I have to play better for their fantasy lineup,” Homa said. “They need to draft better. Don’t pick me. It’s not that hard. I don’t know these people. I hope you make money off me, but if you don’t make money off me and you lose it’s not my fault. It’s yours. Pick a better person. Pick Rory [McIlroy].”

The conversation took a philanthropic turn when a follower suggested the fantasy players should donate to St. Jude Research Hospital, the beneficiary of this week’s event.

Homa had already pledged to donate $200 for every birdie he made this week – and throughout the FedExCup Playoffs – to St. Jude Children's Hospital. “I didn’t even think about making an eagle. I’ll do $500 for an eagle,” he laughed following his second-round 73.

“Reading comprehension isn’t the best skill some people have on Twitter and maybe I don’t write well enough,” said Homa, who made four birdies on Friday. “I don’t dislike fantasy sports, I play fantasy football. It was nice to see through the discussion people’s good colors and raise some money for a good cause.”