by Jeeno Thitikul closed with consecutive birdies in one by 70 of two sous by 70 to stretch his advance at three strokes while the stifling heat and the strong winds have again tested golfers in the PGA female championship in Texas.
Jeeno, the world number two in Thailand, started the day with an advance on the Australian Minjee Lee at Fields Ranch East in Pga Frisco north of Dallas.
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She led to the 10th hole and after a Bogey at 12 was back with the Birdies in the 15th and third.
She gave a blow to the fourth par-three, where she missed green, but rolled in a 12-feet in the eighth and a four-foot in the ninth to finish 36 holes out of six under 138.
“The wind and the rough,” said the 22 -year -old about the most difficult challenges one day when only 14 players broke by.
The 22 -year -old, who has already won this year at the Ladies European Tour and the LPGA Tour, continues her first major title.
She was three strokes away from the Australian Minjee Lee and Rio Takeda in Japan.
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Jeeno said she had played better than she had done in publication of a 68 on Thursday.
“I had better starting shots than yesterday and I put myself in the positions that I have a chance,” she said. “Otherwise, I just tried to peer. I think that by, it’s a very big key here – no birdies but 18 pars, you take it.”
Lee, who started day one on the drift, had three birdies and three Bogeys in her by 72.
Takeda gets up on 10 and had her four birdies over her nine seconds: three in a row to the fourth, fifth and sixth and a top and up of a ninth bunker in less than 71.
Lee also said that the wind was a key factor, making club selection difficult.
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“It was just as if much more amplified,” said Lee. “Yesterday, the ball, I mean, if it was a wind from left to right and I hit a little draw, he didn’t really touch him as much as, like today, I hit a draw and he always went to the right.
“I just tried to stay patient,” she added. “It was really windy and quite difficult to hold the Greens on some of them.”
– Take your medication –
Only seven players ended the day under the peer for the tournament.
The American veteran Lexi Thompson was the only one in fourth position after a 70 for two under 142 with the South Korean Lee So-Mi, the Chisato Iwai and the American in Japan and the American Kim sharing fifth on a sub-143.
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Thompson, a winner of 11 times LPGA who plays a limited calendar this year, was among the first runners and had three birdies before a Bogey at 18 in his two-mines of 70.
“(It) became quite windy even for the morning,” said Thompson. “It was blowing more than yesterday, so I knew that I just had to get into my lines there.
“It is a hard golf course, especially when the wind blows. If you miss the fairways, you just have to take your medication, go out and try to save the same way you can, make the worst a bogy.”
The world number one Nelly Korda has carded two against 74, finally bringing together two birdies in its last three holes to end the blows of the day.
BB / JGC
