Tavatanakit holds narrow lead as Wie West exits LPGA major

RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. — Michelle Wie West tumbled out of the ANA Inspiration on a hot, breezy Friday afternoon in the desert. Patty Tavatanakit stayed up top with eight major champions close behind.

Playing for the second straight week after a 21-month break, Wie West followed an opening 2under 70 with a birdie-less 79 to miss the cut at Mission Hills in the first major championship of the year.

“Wasn’t a good day,” Wie West said. “Got a little mucky from the first hole. Was right up against a tree. … I feel like I’ve had some really good moments and some really bad moments. Definitely a lot of positives to take from and definitely have my work cut out for me.”

The long-hitting Tavatanakit took the lead Thursday with an opening 66 and shot a 69 on Friday in 97-degree afternoon heat to reach 9 under, a stroke ahead of Shanshan Feng. International players held the first 19 positions on leaderboard.

“I didn’t want to take it the way that like, ‘Oh, I’m leading a major championship,’” Tavatanakit said. “I just wanted to look at it as it’s another round, it’s another tournament, even though it’s a big tournament.”

Tavatanakit holed out from 115 yards for eagle on the par-4 15th on her first nine, with the ball flying into the hole.

“I thought it was just a good shot,” Tavatanakit said. “I thought it hit the pin and went somewhere else. No one clapped, there are no fans. We couldn’t figure it out. It was so bright we all couldn’t see. I walked up and looked in the hole and I was like, ‘Oh, it went in.’”

The 21-year-old former UCLA player from Thailand missed the cut last week in Carlsbad in the Kia Classic.

“Just keep doing what I’m doing, focusing on what’s important, what I can control out there,” Tavatanakit said. “There are going to be a lot of challenges on the weekend and I’m ready to face it. It’s not going to be easy. If I were going to win it, it’s going to be tough.”

Teenager beats field at Augusta amateur

Japanese teenager Tsubasa Kajitani overcame a double bogey on the 17th hole by closing with a superb par save, getting her into a playoff that she won on the first extra hole Saturday to capture the Augusta National

Women’s Amateur.

In a fitting conclusion to a final round filled with more blunders than birdies, she won with a par when Emilia Migliaccio’s delicate chip on the 18th hole in the playoff didn’t clear the sand.

Kajitani thought she had lost the tournament, just like so many other players on a chaotic back nine, when she took four shots from the front of the 17th green for a double bogey.

She wasn’t alone in her mistakes, however, and when she used the slope to perfection on the 18th hole for a pitch that grazed the edge of the cup, she had an even-par 72. Migliaccio closed with a 70 and already was in at 1-over 217, with no idea she would have more holes to play at the home of the Masters.

In the playoff on the 18th, Migliaccio was right of the bunker near the green, leaving her a delicate shot over sand to a fast green. She left it in the bunker, and Kajitani won with a beautifully judged pace from the back of the green that left her 4 feet away for the winning par.

The 17-year-old was in tears when it was over, saying only to an interpreter, “I can’t describe it.”