World No. 2 Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand built a three-stroke lead through two rounds Friday as she attempts to go back-to-back at the Mizuho Americas Open in West Caldwell, N.J.
Thitikul won the event last year at Liberty National Golf Club before it was moved to Mountain Ridge Country Club in West Caldwell, N.J. Her 3-under-par 69 in the second round lifted her to 8-under 136, with Jennifer Kupcho the next-closest at 5 under following her own round of 69. Brooke Matthews (72) is alone in third at 4 under.
Thitikul, 23, had a busy round after starting on the back nine. Between Nos. 17 and 4, she mixed four birdies with two bogeys. She finished strongly with birdies at the par-5 sixth and eighth holes to climb to 8 under.
“I didn’t (play) well when the wind really picking up in the beginning,” Thitikul said. “I mean, luckily we don’t have much wind on the back nine after the rain came and then the wind just like shut down. Then we just lucky. If we got the breeze the front nine, I don’t think my number is going to be that low for sure.”
Thitikul, who won her eighth LPGA title in February in her native Thailand, said her coach told her to go about her job as usual.
“Just prepare things the same routine,” she said. “I mean, just let golf be golf and let me be me. … So I think it’s just maybe stick to that process that just another day at the office and then whatever it’s turn out to be that turn out to be, and then you figure it out.”
Kupcho has yet to earn a top-10 finish this season, but put herself in fine position with her Friday round. She could have finished closer to Thitikul; after making four birdies on the front nine and another at No. 13 to reach 7 under, she bogeyed Nos. 14 and 17 coming home.
“Like 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, all of those hole pin placements were on the sides of a hill,” Kupcho said after wrapping up her round in the morning. “For the wind and the speed we’re playing the greens, I don’t know that they’re going to be playable this afternoon, to be quite honest. It’s a really hard golf course.”
No one posted a better score than 4-under 68. Two players managed to do so: France’s Celine Boutier, who moved into fourth alone at 3 under, and Thailand’s Arpichaya Yubol, who’s in a seven-way tie for fifth at 2 under.
Boutier, a former major champion, agreed with the prevailing sentiment that the course was challenging and the wind was a complicating factor.
“I feel like because I was first off this morning, I was able to take advantage of the first few holes that were less windy and then it started picking up in the middle of my front nine,” Boutier said.
“Yeah, I’m definitely glad to be done right now because it’s picked up even more. And I feel like it’s a course where you have to be really strong from the tee to green, so I think you have to be a very complete game to be able to score well.”
Andrea Lee, who claimed the first-round lead with a 66, followed it up with a second-round 79 that left her 1 over for the tournament.
Notable names in line to miss the cut of 3 over par include South Korea’s Sei Young Kim (5 over), Lexi Thompson (5 over), Canada’s Brooke M. Henderson (5 over), Nasa Hataoka of Japan (5 over following a second-round 80), Ariya Jutanugarn of Thailand (6 over following an 80), England’s Lottie Woad (13 over) and Michelle Wie West (18 over).
Wie West went 82-80 in her first two LPGA rounds in three years as she prepares to play the U.S. Women’s Open next month.
