After two rounds in New Jersey, the No. 2 ranked player in the world, Jeeno Thitikul, leads the Mizuho Americas Open by three strokes over Jennifer Kupcho.
Friday at Mizuho saw tough, windy conditions that led to some high scores from the best players in the world. One of the players exempt from that was Thitikul, who went on a late run to secure the 36-hole lead.
The defending champion started slow with a couple bogeys on her first nine, but really rallied on the second nine. Thitikul made five birdies, including four in a six-hole stretch, to shoot -4 32 coming in on her way to a -3 69 for the round.
Thitikul didn’t putt extraordinarily, she had 32 on the day, but she’s kept the ball in play excellently for the week, hitting 24/28 fairways and 32/36 greens.
Thitikul lost her No. 1 ranking a couple weeks ago to Nelly Korda, thanks in part to some relatively poor play from Thitikul’s standards. Even though this is held on a new course for her, she still looks confident and right at home.
Behind her is Jennifer Kupcho, who unlike Thitikul, started fast and struggled late. Kupcho made four front nine birdies and added another on 13, but she made two bogeys down the stretch to finish with a -3 69.
For a broadcast note, live coverage will now take place on CNBC from 12:30 Eastern time to 3:30 because of bad weather forecast. At the moment, this is only expected to impact Saturday’s third round. Groups will go off in groups of three off both tees in this round.
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