Patty trails co-leaders Park, Ko by 2 shots in New Jersey
NEW JERSEY: Thailand’s Patty Tavatanakit shot a six-under-par 65 in the second round to stay second at the LPGA ShopRite Classic on Saturday.
The ANA Inspiration champion had a total of 133, two strokes behind South Korean duo Ko Jin-Young and Park In-Bee, who also fired second-round 65s for 11-under 131.
Patty, who is chasing her second LPGA title, said she would go out with “no pressure, no expectations.”
“I’m just going to go out there and play golf, and hopefully I get up to where I think I should be,” she said.
World No.2 Ko made five of her six birdies in the space of six holes at Seaview Bay in Galloway.
Park had seven birdies, bouncing back from a bogey at her penultimate hole, the eighth, with a birdie at the par-five ninth to grab her share of first place.
A victory in the 54-hole tournament would make Ko the LPGA’s second threetime winner of the season after triumphs at Dallas in July and Portland two weeks ago.
“I had a lot of good opportunities for birdies,” said Ko, who hit 15 of 18 greens in regulation and needed 27 putts. “I made a lot of really good putts, so I didn’t make a bogey today.”
World No.3 Park said: “I remember putting good in Kia and then earlier in the season. I feel like this week is almost back to where I was putting really good earlier in the season.”