Whatever Eun-Hee Ji’s issues with Ko Olina might have been in the past, the LPGA Tour veteran appears to have figured them out.

Ji arrived on Oahu this week with five career victories — including the 2009 U.S. Women’s Open — over 12 years on the tour, but entered her eighth Lotte Championship with a nondescript history in the event. She finished in the top 30 once in her first six visits and a tie for 11th last year qualified as the closest she’d come to contending.

But a record-setting 36 holes into this visit, she’s the one the rest of the field will be chasing when the tournament’s third round tees off today.

Ji built on her 64 in the opening round with a 7-under-par 65 on Thursday, surging past Nelly Korda late in the afternoon to claim the lead at 15 under.

She picked up four strokes to par with three chip-ins and needed just 20 putts to get through the second round while crushing Lotte’s previous 36-hole record of 10 under.

She’ll take a two-shot lead over Korda into today’s play, with defending champion Brooke Henderson and 2016 Lotte winner Minjee Lee still very much in the chase at 11 under.

“I think it was lucky,” said Ji, who entered the week ranked 20th in the world. “I had a (chip-in) three times. Makes a lot difference for me.”

Good fortune with her wedges just highlighted Ji’s run of steady play in fluctuating conditions on the course over the first two days.

After giving the pros a break on Wednesday, Ko Olina Golf Club showed some fight in the second round with the return of a brisk wind in the morning and into the early afternoon. Ji said she wasn’t all that comfortable in the wind in her previous Lotte appearances, but she managed to sustain her hot start even with the return of the breezes.

“Some holes that makes a little bit easier because downwind and I got shorter clubs in, so that makes a little bit easier for me,” Ji said.

She started on the 10th hole and made the turn at 9 under after posting her first bogey of the tournament on the par-4 18th. She more than made up for it when she popped a wedge from about 40 yards out on the par-5 first hole onto the green and watched it roll into the hole for an eagle.

She caught Korda at 13 under with a birdie on No. 5, moved into the lead at No. 7 and gave herself separation when she chipped in from behind the green on the par-3 eighth.

Korda and Ji lead the crowded pack atop the leaderboard in pursuit of their second victories of the season. Ji picked up a win in each of the last two seasons and opened 2019 with a win at the inaugural Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions in Florida in January.

“It makes me more (confident), and actually after that I relax more for other tournaments because I won already and I got good position,” said Ji, who followed with two more top-10 finishes to push her career earnings past $6.5 million.

For most of the day, it appeared Korda would go into the weekend with the 36-hole lead after following up her 63 on Wednesday by closing with four birdies in her last five holes in a round of 4-under 68.

While the changing conditions Thursday morning presented a new challenge for Korda in her Lotte debut, the world’s 10th-ranked player remained locked in with six more birdies.

“It was completely different to (Wednesday). I actually experienced Hawaii weather today,” Korda said. “It was tough. I didn’t hit every shot perfect. I had a couple bogeys. But I ended up playing pretty solid today.”

She was disappointed in her ball-striking at the ANA Inspiration, and after a week of practice, she hit 16 greens in regulation in the opening round. Her approach shots were slightly more scattered in the stronger winds on Thursday in hitting 12 greens.

But as it happens when things are going well, she was able to turn one of her few wayward shots into a scoring opportunity. She hooked her drive off the sixth tee and was nearly out of bounds. She found an opening between the trees and hit a 9-iron to 12 feet and rolled in the putt for birdie.

Henderson, who earned a share of the previous 36-hole record on her way to the title last year, kept an eye on Korda’s progress on the scoreboards scattered around Ko Olina Golf Club and kept pace with a 68 in the morning. Lee joined her at 11 under with a 66 in the afternoon.

Azahara Munoz, the tournament’s runner-up in 2012 and again last year, started on the back nine and strung together four consecutive birdies to jump into contention again and finished at 10 under along with Moriya Jutanugarn.