Thai ace shares lead with Kim, Sagstrom
RELEASED: 24 Feb 2024 at 06:23
CHON BURI: Cheered on by her home fans, Patty Tavatanakit fired a 2nd succeeding five-under-par 67 to declare a share of the midway lead at the Honda LPGA Thailand 2024.
Signing up with the Thailand favourite on top of the leaderboard at the Siam Nation Club Old Course were South Korea’s Kim Sei-Young and Sweden’s Madelene Sagstrom.
Heading into the weekend of the 17th edition of the LPGA Trip occasion, simply 2 strokes different the leading 9 gamers.
One shot off the speed in joint 4th on nine-under 135 are Thailand’s Jaravee Boonchant, South Korea’s Kim Hyo-Joo and Switzerland’s Albane Valenzuela.
An additional stroke back in connected seventh are Germany’s Esther Henseleit, Japan’s Ayake Furue and Taiwan’s Chien Pei-yun, the over night leader who followed up her first-day 64 with a 72.
Matching Valenzuela for the round of the day was the 2021 winner Ariya Jutanugarn, whose barnstorming 65 included 9 birdies and catapulted her from 51st location at the start of the day to equivalent 10th on 137.
Preserving the momentum acquired from her triumph on the Ladies European Trip in Saudi Arabia recently, 24-year-old Patty recuperated from an opening-hole bogey to make 6 birdies, consisting of a 15-footer on the last green.
” It was an actually strong day once again. I seem like putts were rolling in early throughout the round, which assisted a lot. I got a little stalled on the back 9, however handled to score on the par-fives, which I’m actually delighted about,” stated Patty.
For her part, Jaravee’s client method settled handsomely as she rose into contention on the back of 4 birdies in the last 5 holes, kick-started by a chip-in at 14.
A bogey on 10 had actually shown a short lived problem. “I kept missing out on birdie chances. I was simply attempting to remain as patient as possible and was expecting the ball to ultimately drop … and it did on 14. That kept the momentum going and the long putt on 15 bumped up my self-confidence,” stated Jaravee, who remains in her 2nd year on the LPGA Trip.
While Patty and Jaravee both completed their rounds highly, Kim Sei-Young discovered the home stretch.
Going After a 13th LPGA Trip title and a very first given that November 2020, Kim appeared in cruise control when going to six-under for the day and a two-shot lead after 11 holes.
However she dropped chance ats the 13th and 17th and stopped working to birdie 18 after a stubborn drive left her out of position.
” The last 3 holes I wasn’t excellent, so I’m a bit dissatisfied. I believe I lost my focus when I was putting– I missed out on a brief putt on 17. On 18, I missed out on the tee shot[to the right] My ball remained in the rough and I simply made par. We begin once again tomorrow,” stated the Korean.
Like Patty, Sagstrom has actually returned back-to-back 67s. The other day, she made her relocation with 4 birdies in a five-hole stretch from the 4th.
Sagstrom, a member of the victorious European Solheim Cup group in 2015, stated: “Like the other day, I felt that I had an excellent video game in me. Today I struck some actually excellent shots and made some excellent putts.
” After making putts on 4, 5 and 6, it resembled attempting to avoid of my own method a bit. I was playing all right, and after that in the end I simply dropped a bit of energy.”
Teenage Thai beginners Eila Galitsky and Suvichaya Vinijchaitham continued to offer an excellent account of themselves.
Galitsky, in 2015’s Women’s Amateur Asia-Pacific champ, made 5 birdies in a round of 68, while Suvichaya, winner of last month’s Honda National Qualifier, signed for a 70. They remain in a share of 17th put on six-under 138.
