Patty Tavatanakit’s (-10) golf continues to be on fire. Now on the LPGA Tour. The Thai has handed in two cards of 67 strokes in the first and second round of the Honda LPGA Thailand and has placed herself at the very top of the leaderboard. She is tied for the lead with Madelene Sagstrom (-10) and Sei Young Kim (-10). High nobility in the noble area. The three have a one-stroke lead over Albane Valenzuela, Jaravee Boonchant and Hyo Joo Kim. There are 29 players separated by five strokes. A lot of equality.
Tavatanakit seems to have found the way. She won very convincingly last week at the Aramco Saudi Ladies International and has started like a rocket at home. Her average strokes in the last six rounds she has played is not up to 68. A kind of unleashed cyclone that we will see how far it can go. The average level of her rivals this week is considerably higher than in Arabia, so she faces a new test of fire to gauge to what extent she is out of the tunnel she got into in the last two years.
The only Spanish present at this event at the Siam Country Club Old Course in Chonburi is Azahara Muñoz (-1). The Malaga player has two cards of 72 and 71 strokes, with very similar rounds. On Thursday she signed three birdies and three bogeys and this Friday she has made two birdies and one bogey. From tee to green she is struggling to reach her best level in Thailand, although it is not a disaster, and she needs some help from her putter, undoubtedly Azahara’s most powerful weapon in recent times. The two birdies today from the San Pedro golfer have come on two par 5s, a good sign that she needs to sink some more putts.
The main surprise this week is the poor performance that the best players in the world are offering in Thailand. Of the top ten ranked players, we have six in Choburi and, apart from Hyo Joo Kim, world number 9 who is in fourth place, the best ranked is Jin Young Ko, who is just about in the top 25. For now, poor performance from Lilia Vu, Celine Boutier, Ruoning Yin or Charley Hull. The big absence from this tournament is Atthaya Thitikul, a reference in Thai golf, due to a thumb injury. She has been resting for a month and it is estimated that her return will not be until March.
