One day after failing to make a bogey, Jeeno Thitikul made only one birdie at the AIG Women’s Open.
The overnight leader after Round 1 of the season’s final major shot 2-over 73 Friday to fall to 5 under, two back of leader Haeran Ryu.
Thitiukl had seven birdies in her opening 64. Friday, she didn’t make her first birdie until the par-3 12th – and that was it. She dropped shots at the third, 11th and 14th holes to drop off the pace, but not out of contention.
Her round concluded with a 15-foot lip-out for birdie at the par-4 18th.
“I definitely going to get frustrated sometime. I mean, like I get really frustrated when I three-putt on 14 and then I end up on like the bunker on 15. I was like so frustrated out there,” Thitikul said after her round.
“But I feel like if you can let it — let go as fast as possible, should be more advantage for you for the next shot because you know it’s just not ending shots in your life or in the round. You’re not like holing the last putt. I feel like it’s definitely going to be frustrated. I’m not going lie to you.”
Thitikul, 23, is seeking her first major victory. She is coming off back-to-back top-10s at the KPMG Women’s PGA and Amundi Evian.
Charley Hull is also looking for her first major title. And, likewise, she is very much in the mix. Hull holed a bunker shot for birdie at the par-4 17th on her way to an even-par 71. She’s at 2 under, five off the pace.
Not as fortunate from the sand was defending champion Miyu Yamashita. Playing alongside Thitikul, Yamashita made a quadruple bogey at the last when her greenside bunker shot failed to clear the face and rolled back into her footprint. She shot 77 to miss the cut at 7 over.