Thailand’s Atthaya “Jeeno” Thitikul shook off two late bogeys to close with a birdie and push her lead over Lydia Ko to two strokes on Saturday at the LPGA’s Queen City Championship.
Thitikul, like New Zealand’s Ko a former world No 1, had stretched her one-stroke overnight lead to four when she rolled in a long putt from the fringe for her fifth birdie of the day at the 15th.
Back-to-back bogeys at 16 and 17 saw the lead shrink but she closed with a two-putt birdie at the par-five 18th for a four-under-par 68 and a 54-hole total of 16-under 200.
Ko, playing her first tournament since winning Olympic gold in Paris then lifting the trophy at the Women’s British Open last month, shook off an opening bogey to grab four birdies in a three-under 69 for 14-under 202.
She was one stroke in front of China’s Liu Yan, who had a double-bogey and a bogey on the front nine but notched an eagle and three birdies coming in for a 68 on the Arnold Palmer-designed TPC River’s Bend near Cincinnati, which is hosting the tournament for the first time.
South Africa’s Ashleigh Buhai shot 68 to share 11th position on 10-under 206.
“Still a pretty good round, I guess,” said Thitikul, who was a bit deflated after her bogeys at 16 and 17 but ripped a mammoth drive at the 18th to give herself a look at eagle.
“I don’t know how I can hit it that far from the tee,” she said, adding that the increasing firmness of the fairways was, in fact, the reason.
“It’s definitely not my length,” she said.
While the extra length can sometimes be helpful, she said that wasn’t always the case.
“On the fairway we can’t really predict anything,” she said. “I had some holes that I hit it really good and it’s run out and up in the rough.”
Thitikul is chasing her fourth LPGA title, but just her second in a regular stroke play event.
She won the 2022 NW Arkansas Championship and was part of the Thai team that won the 2023 International Crown match play. In June she teamed with China’s Yin Ruoning to win the Dow Championship pairs event.
Ko, who as a 17-year-old became the youngest player to be ranked No 1 in professional golf, is seeking to extend the surge that saw her triumph at the Paris Games then win her first Major title in eight years at St Andrews.
“I think all in all I’ve been really consistent with my ball-striking,” Ko said. “The putting has been the most average part of my game this week. I’ve still been able to make crucial putts at the right time.
“Sometimes when you do give yourself so many opportunities you feel like you’re not putting as well as actually you are, so I was just trying to not get down on myself.
“If I keep giving myself the birdie looks, at one point it’s going to fall.”
© Agence France-Presse
Photo: Dylan Buell/Getty Images
