JERSEY CITY, N.J. — Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand feels so a lot better when she sees putts moving into, and Thursday was an comfortable event on the Mizuho Americas Open. She took solely 26 putts, eight of them for birdie, in a clear begin of 8-under 64 to steer by two pictures.
Thitikul was bogey-free at Liberty Nationwide and had the benefit of enjoying within the morning with just about no wind on the course throughout the Hudson River from Manhattan.
She completed sturdy, dropping a brief iron into 5 toes on the seventeenth and judging the gap completely on the closing gap with a shot that stayed beneath the outlet and left her solely about 3 toes for birdie.
Celine Boutier of France ran off 5 straight birdies in the midst of her spherical to account for not benefiting from the par-5s. She was at 66 with Hye-Jin Choi of South Korea and Lindy Duncan, who misplaced in a five-way playoff on the Chevron Championship two weeks in the past.
“I feel my putter working effectively, higher than Chevron week,” stated Thitikul, the No. 2 participant within the girls’s world rating.
She opened with rounds of 71-75 on the Chevron Championship, the primary main of the LPGA season. Thitikul took off final week and devoted numerous time to her placing, virtually to a fault. She discovered her feelings going in all places relying on the end result.
“First couple days I have been again residence and I putt quite a bit, a ton,” she stated. “I really feel good after I see it drop however I really feel unhealthy after I see it miss. … And I used to be like, ‘No, you’ll be able to’t be like this.’ It is in or it is not. It must be the identical emotions and emotion.
“I simply going to putt much less and suppose much less. That is just about I wish to do,” she stated. “As a result of mental-wise, fairly essential to see all putts in. I do not wish to be so tight and tense.”
In addition to, she stated, the greens have been robust for everybody on the main.
“We’re right here, hit it good, and likewise making the putts,” Thitikul stated after her eleventh spherical of 64 or decrease over the previous 4 seasons.
Defending champion Nelly Korda had six birdies — three of them on the par-5s — to account for just a few bogeys on her entrance 9 and completed within the group at 68.
Korda, the No. 1 participant in girls’s golf by an enormous margin, has but to win this yr. She received the Mizuho Americas Open a yr in the past for her sixth victory of the season. Her sport hasn’t been as sharp this yr, and Korda is extra concerned about wanting forward.
“Simply bought to concentrate on what my sport plan was final yr — that was one shot at a time, to not get forward of myself,” Korda stated. “I do know in the beginning of the yr I had quite a bit to defend, however I feel that as a substitute of placing strain on myself I ought to be comfortable that I used to be in that second, that I did obtain all that nice success. So simply exit right here and do what I like.”
The group at 67 included Haeran Ryu of South Korea, coming off a victory final week on the Black Desert Championship in Utah that elevated her to No. 5 on this planet. Her spherical included a bogey on her remaining gap.
