FRISCO, Texas — Jenno Thitikul walked off the fifth inexperienced after a double bogey within the first spherical of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship reminding herself to remain affected person and that some missed pictures are going to occur. HT Image “Majors, you’re going to miss anyway,” stated Thitikul, who’s No. 2 within the ladies’s world rating. “A way to bounce back, it’s more important.” Thitikul definitely discovered a means to try this on a sizzling and windy Thursday, ending with a 4-under 68 for a one-stroke lead over #Minjee Lee . Haeran Ryu, Rio Takeda and Somi Lee all shot 70. That solely gap over par for Thitikul was adopted by a par earlier than she made 5 birdies in a six-hole stretch, with a 60-footer on the par-3 eighth gap in the course of three in a row. “My putter went really well,” said the 22-year-old from #Thailand, who is seeking her first major title. “In the front nine we had a lot of breeze going, and more than the back nine, but like putts 7, 8, 9, which boosts the confidence up making the turn to the back nine.” Thitikul, who lives within the #Dallas space, wanted solely 25 putts on the Fields Ranch East course at PGA Frisco. Her makes measured 199 1/2 toes. Thitikul performed with top-ranked #Nelly Korda and No. 3 #Lydia Ko . Korda, who reaggravated a neck damage with a shot out of the tough throughout a apply spherical Monday, opened with seven consecutive pars in a spherical that had two birdies and two bogeys. Ko was the one within the group to make a birdie on the 513-yard, par-5 first gap, however did not make one other the remainder of the day. While Korda stated she doesn’t really feel ache hitting pictures, the two-time main champion stated she has ache “just with rotation” of her neck and that it’s laborious to get comfy to sleep at evening. “It’s better, yeah. Getting better every day, which is nice,” she stated. “Just because I injured it last year, whenever I do injure my neck it takes a little bit longer than normal. … Just takes me like a week to kind of recover when I tweak my neck now.” Korda opened with seven pars, together with on the 317-yard, par-4 seventh gap, the place she hit a 294-yard drive right into a valley simply wanting the inexperienced. Her preliminary pitch from there ricocheted off the sting of the inexperienced and rolled again down the slope to the place she was. Korda hit her subsequent shot to 2 toes. That fifth gap for Thitkul began with a drive out of bounds and a penalty. Her birdie streak started with an almost 18-footer at No. 7 earlier than the lengthy one on the eighth. She rolled in a 35-foot birdie at No. 17, and simply missed making one other yet another than twice that lengthy on the 434-yard, par-4 18th. Two-time main winner Lee, a 29-year-old Australian, hasn’t received since 2023. She opened Thursday with a bogey and completed with two bogeys over the past three holes. In between, she made seven birdies. “I feel like they were pretty soft bogeys. … Well, on 16, that was a bit soft and obviously the first hole is a par 5. I should be making birdie or par at the least,” Lee stated. “Obviously there will be bogeys, but I think for me, I just try to stay patient. If I make a bogey I just try it back it up with something better than that. Can’t get ahead of yourself, especially in this kind of weather. I think it’s more just the heat that’s draining your focus.” Lee bogeyed the 425-yard twelfth gap, the place she drove into thick tough to the precise and from there went into the left tough. She saved par on the par-3 thirteenth by blasting from a bunker to five 1/2 toes and had consecutive birdies to get to five underneath — the bottom by anybody within the first spherical. Then got here her late bogeys, lacking a 7-foot par on the sixteenth and hitting her strategy on the 18th right into a bunker. golf: /hub/golf This article was generated from an automatic information company feed with out modifications to textual content.

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