Lexi Thompson has experienced more than her share of heartaches in major championships through the years. She has only win in the LPGA Tour’s Big Five among her 11 career victories, while there are 10 top-four finishes—some of them with the 30-year-old coming excruciatingly close before making crucial mistakes down the stretch on Sunday.

Semi-retired Lexi Thompson shot a 2-under 70 in the second round of the KPMG Women's PGA Championship on Friday to put herself in position to contend over the weekend for her first major title in more than a decade.

Call her semi-retired. Or a part-timer. But as Lexi Thompson showed Friday in sweltering, blustery conditions, she’s no less competitive, especially when a major championship is on the line. Thompson’s 2-under 70 in the second round of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship was the equivalent of going low on a day in which under-par rounds were as scarce as shade on the virtually treeless