‘A little intimidated’ Patty trails leader by 2 shots
>> BOCA RATON: Thai rookie Patty Tavatanakit shot a four-under-par 68 in the first round of the Gainbridge LPGA in Florida to stay second on Thursday.
Patty, whose Thai name is Paphangkorn, were joint second along with South Korea’s Kim SeiYoung and Japan’s Yui Kawamoto.
They were two shot behind Jessica Korda who hit a 66.
The American waited out a late rain delay to cap her round with her eighth birdie of the day.
Korda had taken a one-shot lead at five-under with a birdie at her penultimate hole, the eighth, and was playing the ninth when rain halted play.
After a 40-minute delay the
American returned and drained a 25-foot birdie putt that put her two up on the chasing trio.
“It’s only Thursday, so a lot of golf to be played, but nice to put a good round up there,” said Korda, who was pleased to complete her round before darkness halted play with several groups still on the course. “It’s just not wanting to come back in the morning and putt it,” she said, adding that it wasn’t only the prospect of an early wake up call but also knowing that conditions on the greens would likely be different on Friday morning.
Kim, a 10-time winner on the LPGA tour, fired four of her six birdies on her inward run to pull level with rookies Patty and Kawamoto.
Kawamoto, a 21-year-old who earned her LPGA card through Q-school, had five birdies in her four-under effort while Patty, who won three times on the Symetra Tour last season, had four birdies without a bogey in her first LPGA round as a tour member.
“I’ve been waiting to come out for three months, since the start of the offseason, which was kind of stressful,” Patty said, admitting that she was “a little intimidated” by the idea of being on the LPGA tour.
“After I cut out those thoughts and focused on what I have to do, it has been working pretty well. I didn’t really think about trying to play well today, I was just trying to be in the moment,” she said.
LEADING FIRST ROUND SCORES
(par-72, USA unless noted)
66 — Jessica Korda
68 — Kim Sei-young (KOR), Yui Kawamoto (JPN), Patty Tavatanakit (THA)
69 — Lindsey Weaver, Carlota Ciganda (ESP), Lin Xiyu (CHN)
70 — Robynn Ree, Sakura Yokomine (JPN), Angela Stanford, Chella Choi (KOR), Georgia Hall (ENG), Jillian Hollis, Jane Park