A four-way tie for the lead has formed atop the 2026 Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout presented by PepsiCo after a second round that played dramatically tougher than Friday's opener at Mystic Creek Golf Club. Overnight leader Kate Smith-Stroh, No. 2 Race for the Card contender Lauren Olivares, rookie Cholcheva Wongras, and Mariel Galdiano all sit at 4-under 140 heading into Sunday's final round.

Despite a shorter, 6,431-yard setup for Round 2 scoring got significantly harder across the board. Smith-Stroh, who opened with a 7-under 65, could not sustain that pace and shot 3-over 75 — a 10-shot swing that still leaves her tied for the lead only because so much of the rest of the field also fell back.

Olivares added an even par 72 to her opening 68 to stay in the tie, while Galdiano was one of the day's best stories, following an opening 71 with a 3-under 69 to climb into a share of the lead. Wongras, a 19-year-old rookie from Thailand, also moved up with a 1-under 71, backing up her opening 69. She already has an Epson Tour win this season, having set the tour's 72-hole scoring record at the Reliance Matrix Championship in May.

Galdiano, a UCLA product from Honolulu, Hawaii, has 11 career top-10 finishes and $243.2K in official career earnings since joining the Epson Tour in 2022; she is chasing her first Epson Tour title after making her LPGA Tour debut in 2025.

Several other players who contended on Friday lost significant ground on a day when Mystic Creek gave up far fewer birdies than it did to open the tournament.

Samantha Wagner slipped to 2-under 142 after a 2-over 74. Kaleigh Telfer, Friday's outright runner-up at 6-under 66, shot 5-over 77 in the second round to fall to 1-under. Bianca Pagdanganan had the toughest day of the group, following her opening 4-under 68 with a 7-over 79 to fall to 3-over 147.

The second round also produced the highlight of the week: Jennifer Chang made a hole-in-one on the par-3 16th hole, the first ace of her professional career.

She hit a 5-hybrid into the hole and watched it land, take a small hop to the right, and drop. “It was cool,” she said afterward, adding that she tried to keep an even keel with a couple of holes still to play.

After 36-holes there is a 4-Way Tie Atop the Leaderboard at the 2026 Murphy USA El Dorado Shootout

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