FRISCO, Texas – Semi-retired Lexi Thompson enters the weekend in a race for her first major title in over a decade, with Jeeno Thitikul extending his lead at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship on Friday.
Thitikul, the world’s second-largest player, finished the six-hour round just before sunset, with a 2-under 70 reaching 6-under 138.
“To be honest, I didn’t think it would be a good result,” said Thitikul, 22. “I just told my coach today, especially today. I was filming a 2-under par and said, ‘Amazing!’
With touch-like temperatures above 100 degrees and Texas winds constantly present, only seven of the 156 players who started the third major of the season were over two rounds. There were no bogey-free rounds this week.
After the first round there were 15 players with par. This is when Thitikul’s opening 68 puts a stroke on her more than Lee, who lives in North Texas.
Thailand’s five-time winner, Thitikul was with top-ranked Nelly Korda in the first two rounds in the same group. Two birdies came to the last three holes on Friday. The Corda has 74, with over 2 per week.
Thompson is no longer playing a full schedule, but she is almost always working on the game when she’s still at home.
“Whenever I tee up it, I want to go out here and compete and win. I just want to make sure I’m fully prepared every time I tee it,” Thompson said. “Yeah, I mean, knowing I’m not playing a full schedule, I feel more at ease with my heart here and look forward to the week and the week.”
After Thursday’s even round, Thompson was bogey-free in the second round.
Thompson, 30, who last year said this was one of her last playing a full schedule, is in her seventh tournament this season, including three majors so far. She showed she’ll play again next week at the Michigan Dow Championships before “a long vacation.”
Her only big win was the 2014 Craft Nabisco Championship, but 13 top-five finishes in the majors since 2013 were the most of all 20 top-10 finishes in these events.
Thompson, who had her final victory in the 2019 tournament, said she still didn’t allow herself to think about what it means to win another major. She missed a cut at the US Women’s Open three weeks ago, but last week she competed in the final round before finishing fourth in the Meijer LPGA Classic.
“It’s me I’m going to take one shot at a time. When you’re thinking too much in advance, it only reaches you, so I’m really going to accept the moment,” she said. “I hope I’m out on the weekend and do the best. That’s all I can do.”
There were only two players for at least ten years during the major wins: Sherri Steinhauer (1992 Du Maurier, 2006 British Open) and Juli Inkster (1989 Chevron, 1999 US Open).
Thompson’s parsavers on Friday were really better with three birdies. It’s the longest at 11 feet, with 6 1/2 footers and almost 4 footers.
Thompson was only 70 yards off the pin after shooting a tee shot on the 10th, but was still 43 feet away after hitting her approach into the bunker and knocking out of there before a curl left-to-left putt. On the 14th, her 5-foot putt made a 360-degree roll around her lips before falling into the cup.
“I went 10th from my drive,” she said. “A great drive, I got it pretty close to Green, but they pushed the pin over there, so instead of hitting the left, I got a bit greedy and ended up plugging it in with the bunker.
“Saving pars there is huge.”
This report uses information from the Associated Press.