LPGA: Jeeno Thitkul extends lead into Sunday at Cincy

Entering the third round with a one-stroke lead over LPGA Hall of Famer Lydia Ko, Thai superstar Jeeno Thitikul shot a 4-under 68 on Saturday to extend her lead heading into championship Sunday at the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G. At one point during the round, Thitikul had a four-shot lead over the field, but two late mistakes closed the gap. She ended the third round with just a two-stroke lead over Ko and a three-day total of 16-under at TPC River’s Bend.

“I had a really good start today, starting with birdie and then keep it lower almost going to finish. But I think it’s still a really good round of golf as well,” said Thitikul after her third round. When asked about holding the lead heading into Sunday, she said, “Every player who is chasing on the leaderboard can go really low, so if you can make as much as birdie as you can and then just play your game, whatever it takes. Just like on your game and then do your best.”

Thitikul got off to a quick start on Moving Day, making birdie on the first hole while her playing partners Ko and Haeran Ryu both made bogey. She added another birdie on 3 to move to 14-under, four strokes ahead of Ko and Yan Liu at 10-under, and then took advantage of the reachable par-5 8th hole to extend her advantage. A little drama ensued before the turn when Thitikul hit her tee shot right on No. 9 into the hospitality area. After a short search, she located her ball and then found the green on her second shot after getting free relief from the temporary immovable obstruction. After escaping with a par on nine, Thitikul turned in 33 and continued rolling with birdies on 11 and 15. It was then that the trouble started.

On the par-3 16^th holed, Thitikul missed the green and found the right greenside bunker. She pitched out to 12 feet and missed her par putt long to record her first bogey of the day and just her third bogey of the week. Then, on 17, the 21-year-old’s tee shot went left into the fairway bunker, and she bailed out onto the fairway on her second shot. She was on the green in three, about 10 feet away from the hole, but she again missed her par putt, this time just left of the hole. After back-to-back bogeys, her four-stroke lead was cut in half as she headed to the par-5 18th. Luckily, the final hole again played as the easiest on Saturday, and after finding the green in two, she two-putted for birdie to hold onto the lead in Ohio.  

“Sometimes it’s tough. Like when you hit a bad shot, and it’s still in your head, in your mind,” said Thitikul, who led the field in greens in regulation entering Saturday’s round but is now T3 in that statistic after missing seven of 18 greens on day three. “I am trying to delete it or maybe like just get the good vision, like good ball striking that I have been playing from the first hole until whatever hole more than remember the bad things.”

After bogeying the first hole, Ko ended her blemish-free 36-hole streak, but she still has the least number of bogeys among the field. An LPGA Tour veteran, Ko is searching for her 22nd Tour title and her second win in consecutive starts on Tour. Her last appearance saw Ko earn her third major championship victory at the AIG Women’s Open, just one of the highlights of her summer that also included a gold medal at the Paris Olympics. With a solid round tomorrow, Ko could earn her third victory of the season and fifth top-10 finish in a row, including the Olympic Games.

An LPGA Tour sophomore, Liu will play in the final group for the first time ever on Sunday. The 26-year-old had an unexceptional rookie year in 2023, but she did enough to maintain her status for the 2024 season. This season, she has struggled with inconsistency and injury, missing seven straight cuts coming ahead of this week’s Queen City Championship. But one week can make all the difference on the LPGA Tour, and Liu has a chance to become a Rolex First-Time Winner with just a three-stroke deficit to overcome on Sunday.

“It’s my first time playing in the last group,” Liu said when asked how she was feeling about Sunday’s final round. “Just try to learn something from last hole, last round, and play last group. Just a normal 18 holes. Just try to like normal 18 holes.” When asked how happy she was to be playing so well after missing several cuts leading into the event, Liu added, “I think the first thing is my body feels very well right now. The second thing is I know I can do it. I know I can play very well on this tour, so I just try to believe in myself.”

Ryu, who is making her first start since capturing her second LPGA Tour victory at the FM Championship two weeks ago, is T4 alongside Albane Valenzuela. Ryu made two bogeys to begin Saturday’s round but battled back to ultimately sit four strokes behind the leader. It is the same position she was in heading into the final round in Boston, where she won. Valenzuela came to Maineville, Ohio, fresh off the 2024 Solheim Cup, where she was a rookie on the European Team. Though she didn’t earn a victory at the Solheim Cup, she is hoping to earn her first LPGA Tour victory this week in Ohio.

WITH A WIN

Jeeno Thitikul:

• Would earn her fourth career victory and her second of the season
  • This would be her second multi-win season in her LPGA Tour career
    • She won both the JTBC Classic presented by Barbasol and Walmart NW Arkansas Championship presented by P&G as a rookie in 2022
    • She won the Dow Championship in June alongside playing partner Ruoning Yin
• Would earn her first individual win on Tour since her rookie season (2022)
  • It has been 728 days since her last individual victory on Tour
• Would be the fifth player with multiple wins on Tour this season
  • She would join Nelly Korda (6), Lauren Coughlin (2), Hannah Green (2) and Lydia Ko (2)
• Would become the second-winningest player from Thailand in LPGA Tour history, surpassing Moriya Jutanugarn (3 wins)
  • Ariya Jutanugarn is the winningest player from Thailand with 12 wins
• Would bring the total number of wins by Thai players this season to five
  • Thitikul (Dow Championship), M. Jutanugarn (Portland Classic), Patty Tavatanakit (Honda LPGA Thailand), Chanettee Wannasaen (Dana Open)
• Would earn her seventh top-10 this season and her 36th overall

Yan Liu:

• Would earn her first career victory on the LPGA Tour
  • Would earn her first win in her 41st start as a Member on Tour
  • Her rookie year was 2023
• Would earn her first top-10 finish of the season and just her third on the LPGA Tour
• Would be just the third player from the People’s Republic of China to win on the LPGA Tour, joining Shanshan Feng (10) and Ruoning Yin (3)
• Would be the fourth Rolex First Time Winner of the 2024 season
  • She would join Bailey Tardy, Linnea Strom, and Lauren Coughlin
• Would be the 18th different player to win on Tour this season
• Would take home the $300,00 winner’s check, which would surpass her total official earnings ($285,907) from the entire 2023 season
  • This season, she has earned $250,717 so far
• Would earn her first win after missing the cut in her last seven starts on the LPGA Tour
  • It would be the second season in a row that a player earned her first win after missing seven or more consecutive cuts coming into their winning start
    • Last season, Chanettee Wannasaen earned her first LPGA Tour win after missing the cut in nine straight starts

Lydia Ko:

• Would earn her third win of the 2024 season and 22nd in her LPGA Tour career
  • This would be the fifth season of her career that she has was at least three victories on Tour
  • The last time she won three times or more in a single season was in 2022
• Would be the first time since 2016 that she won in back-to-back starts
  • Ko won the 2024 AIG Women’s Open and is making her first start since
  • In 2016, she won the JTBC Classic presented by Barbasol and then the The Chevron Championship
• Would join Nelly Korda as the only other player with three or more wins on Tour this season
• Would earn her fourth top-10 finish in her fourth consecutive start on Tour, not including her win at the Olympics
  • She finished T8 (CPKC Women’s Open), 9 (ISPS HANDA Women’s Scottish Open), 1 (AIG Women’s Open)
  • It would be her seventh top-10 result of the season

Albane Valenzuela:

• Would earn her first career victory on the LPGA Tour
  • Would earn her first win in her 95th start as a Member on the LPGA Tour
  • She was a rookie in both 2020 and 2021, due to the shortened 2020 season
• Would be the first Swiss player to ever win on Tour
• Would be the fourth Rolex First Time Winner of the 2024 season
  • She would join Bailey Tardy, Linnea Strom, and Lauren Coughlin
• Would be the 18th different player to win on Tour this season
• Would be the sixth player to compete in the Solheim Cup then win the next event on Tour
  • She would join Betsy King (1992), Trish Johnson (1996), Juli Inkster (2000), Annika Sorenstam (2002, ’03, ’05) and Maria Hjorth (2007)
• Would earn her third top-10 finishes on Tour this season and ninth overall

Haeran Ryu:

• Would earn her third career victory and second of the 2024 season
• Would be the fifth player with multiple wins on Tour this season
  • She would join Nelly Korda (6), Lauren Coughlin (2), Hannah Green (2) and Lydia Ko (2)
• Would be the first player from the Republic of Korea to win multiple times in a season since Jin Young Ko in 2022
  • Ko won four times that season (The Ascendant LPGA Benefiting Volunteers of America, Cognizant Founders Cup, BMW Ladies Championship and CME Group Tour Championship)
• Would be the second player this season to win back-to-back starts since Korda won four-straight earlier this season
  • She would be the first player from Korea to do so since Ko won the Cognizant Founders Cup and the BMW Ladies Championship in consecutive starts
• Would earn her 10th top-10 of the season and her 16th overall

A LOOK AT THE LEADER

ABOUT THE LEADER

Rolex Rankings No. 15 Jeeno Thitikul

• Heading into the final round, Thitikul has a 62.2% win probability according to the KPMG predictive insights
  • The next closest player is Lydia Ko who has just a 19.9% probability
• Thitikul hit 9 of 14 fairways, 11 of 18 greens with 26 putts
  • Her 26 putts were tied for the second-fewest putts needed in the third round
  • She recorded six birdies and two bogeys
• Her 200 ties the overall tournament scoring record first set by Ally Ewing in 2022 at Kenwood Country Club
  • Her 200 is also her lowest 54-hole score of the 2024 season
  • She previous shot a 201 at the ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by Acer
• She leads the field in birdies recorded with 20
  • 20 is the most amount of birdies she has ever recorded in a single tournament, tying her four-round record from the FM Championship earlier this season
• This is just the third time she has led after 54-holes of play in her career and first since 2022
• Her 132 is her lowest 36-hole score of the season and the third lowest of her career
  • She recorded a 131 at the 2021 Honda LPGA Thailand and a 128 at the 2022 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship
• This is the first time since the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give earlier this year that she has begun a tournament with three-straight rounds in the 60s
  • She has not played in an event this season where she has recorded 60s in all four rounds of play
  • She last did so at the 2023 CME Group Tour Championship
• She has hit 44 of 45 greens in regulation, tied for the third-most of anyone in the field
• She also is tied for sixth in driving distance with an average of 298.5 yards
• Thitikul is making just her 11th start of the 2024 season
  • She has missed just two cuts and won the Dow Championship with partner Ruoning Yin
  • Along with her win, she has five additional top-10 finishes
• She represented Thailand at the 2024 Paris Olympic Games and finished T18
• This is Thitikul’s third season on Tour
  • She has three wins and 34 additional top-10 finishes
  • In 2023, she earned the Glenna Collett Vare Trophy, given to the player with the best scoring average on Tour
  • Thitikul was named the Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year in 2022
    • She was the first player since Sung Hyun Park (2017) to card multiple wins during her rookie year 
• In 2021, Thitikul won the Race to Costa del Sol, Rookie of the Year, and Player of the Year honors on the Ladies European Tour
  • She joined Dame Laura Davies, Carlota Ciganda and Esther Henseleit as the only players to win the Race to Costa del Sol and Rookie of the Year in the same year 
  • She was the youngest-ever winner of the Race to Costa del Sol at 18 years, 9 months and 8 days 
• Thitikul won the 2017 Ladies European Thailand Championship at 14 years, 4 months, and 19 days making her the youngest person ever to win a professional tournament
  • She also won the 2019 Ladies European Thailand Championship as an amateur 

THINGS TO KNOW

• Lydia Ko (2) is looking to win back-to-back starts for the first time since 2016
  • Ko won the AIG Women’s Open in her last start
  • Ko has recorded just one bogey in three rounds
    • It is the fewest among the field
  • She is T4 in fairways hit (39/42) and second in greens in regulation (45/54)
• Yan Liu (3) is looking to her earn her first top-10 finish of the 2024 season
  • Her best finish is a T13 finish at the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro
  • She finished seventh at the 2023 Dow Championship
    • Her career-best finish is a third-place finish at the 2023 ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by Acer
  • She has recorded three eagles in her week at TPC River’s Bend, the most of her career in a single tournament
• Albane Valenzuela (T4) has recorded just three bogeys in three rounds
  • She tied for fifth among the field for fewest bogeys
  • Valenzuela leads the field in greens in regulation hitting 47 of 54
  • She is searching for her third top-10 finish of the 2024 season and first since the ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by Acer
• Haeran Ryu (T4) is looking for her second win in as many starts
  • Her last time out, she won the FM Championship, also on a TPC course
  • Ryu recorded five bogeys, five birdies and an eagle on No. 18
  • Ryu is T4 among the field in both eagles (2) and birdies (17)
• Six players tied at T5, 11-under
  • Hyo Joon Jang went bogey-free with five birdies
    • Jang is looking for her second-career top-10 finish and the first of the season
  • Lindy Duncan also went bogey-free with four birdies
    • Duncan is looking for her first top-10 finish of the 2024 season
  • Stephanie Kyriacou shot 3-under in her third round with five birdies and two bogeys
  • Bianca Pagdanganan recorded four birdies and a bogey
  • Jasmine Suwannapura had six birdies and three bogeys

QUOTABLES

Lydia Ko (2, -14) on how she’s been able to battle the firmer conditions

“Yeah, it’s almost been a 360 change from Monday when I played here to now.  Feels like a U.S. Open almost because you turn up to U.S. Opens some week and from Sunday to Sunday it’s a completely different golf course. This golf courses has been like that.  I had some mud on some of my balls in the practice rounds, but here I think one of my drives went 311, and that’s obviously not my average driving length. The course is firming up.  In some ways because it is rolling out more you’ve got shorter clubs in, but it also makes some pin positions more difficult to get to. So just trying to be smart and I think keeping it on the fairway is a big factor around here, especially when it is getting firmer.”

Yan Liu (3, -13) on how she feels competing in the final group after missing so many cuts before this week

“Well, I think the first thing is my body feels very well right now.  The second thing is I know I can do it.  I know I can play very well on this Tour, so I just try believe in myself.”

Albane Valenzuela (T4, -12) on what she is looking to get out of her round on Sunday

“Yeah, I mean, just trying to make birdies, right?  Like I think here there is a lot of birdie opportunities and girls go low, so I’m just trying to make as many as I can.  If it’s one, if it’s ten, like who knows?  It’s golf. You can’t control the variables.  All I can do is really stick to my process, my routine, and try my best.”

ON LPGA.COM