NAPLES, Fla. (AP) — Jeeno Thitikul putted for birdie on every hole Friday in a performance worthy of the No. 1 player in women’s golf, giving her a 9-under 63 for a three-shot lead in the CME Group Tour Championship as the Thai star closes in on another $4 million payoff and LPGA player of the year.
Nelly Korda, whom Thitikul replaced atop the world ranking earlier this year, saw enough putts drop for a 64 that put her atop the leaderboard about the time Thitikul was starting.
She wound up five shots behind, at least in the mix to win for the first time this year.
Thitikul made it hard on everyone, running off four straight birdies around the turn and six birdies in an eight hole stretch. She played alongside Sei Young Kim, who did her best to keep pace and made six birdies on the back nine of Tiburon Golf Club to post a 66.
Thitikul, the defending champion, was at 14-under 130.
“Better than yesterday for sure,” Thitikul said with a smile. “Still not had no complaints with bogey free and then nine birdies. So I’ll take it.”
Somi Lee, who opened the LPGA’s season finale with a 64, made bogey on the par-5 opening hole and never really got going. She had two birdies on her last five holes to salvage a 70 that left the South Korean four shots behind, along with Nasa Hataoka (67).
But this was the Thitikul show, and it was all Kim could do to keep up while playing alongside her on another warm day with receptive turf on the greens that allowed for such good scoring.
“Nine holes, Jeeno is a five-stroke (lead),” Kim said. “I try to make a lot of birdies, especially back nine. So yeah, I got the fire back nine. I mean, she’s amazing. She made every hole a birdie chance. She’s a great player. I make the birdie and she make the birdie.”
They combined to make birdie on all but two of the last 11 holes they played.
Thitikul is leading the points-based award for LPGA player of the year. The only player who can catch her is Women’s British Open champion Miyuu Yamashita of Japan, who shot a 69 and was nine shots behind going into the weekend.
Thitikul and Yamashita are the only players with multiple victories this year.
Korda remarkably has yet to win this year after a seven-title season in 2024, and she had a sluggish start to the Tour Championship. But she saw plenty of birdie putts from the 10- to 15-foot range drop in the second round and made her an early target.
What caused the turnaround in her putting?
“Honestly, yesterday I went to the putting green for five minutes and I saw some balls actually roll into the hole, which was nice. And then left,” Korda said.
She also had a low round on Friday last week at The Annika to get back in the mix and fell back on the weekend. This time she’s five shots behind a player living up to her billing as the best in women’s golf.
Thitikul began her birdie streak with a pair of 10-footers on the eighth and ninth holes. She then hit wedge to within inches of the cup on No. 10, and hit her approach to a back right pin over a bunker to 5 feet at No 11, the hole playing the hardest at Tiburon.
The only green she missed was the 18th, but only because her approach rolled just off the green and still left her a birdie putt from about 18 feet that she missed.
Seven players were within five shots of Thitikul with 36 holes to go, a group that includes Brooke Henderson and Minjee Lee. The winner gets $4 million, the richest prize in women’s golf.
Thitikul shot 22-under par last year and still only won by one shot. The previous year, Amy Yang set a tournament record by winning at 27-under 261. So she realizes she needs to keep up the birdies.
“As I always say, all the winners here, the score is like 20-plus something which is really low scoring,” Thitikul said. “We just need to make more and more and more.”
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The Associated Press
