Atthaya Thitikul (-15) has arrived from another planet this Saturday in Florida to bring excitement to the final day of the year on the LPGA Tour. It seemed that everything was under control by Angel Yin (-15) at the CME Group Tour Championship, playing wonderfully, dominating the tournament, and almost sealing the deal. In reality, she was taking away the excitement. No one could keep up with her pace.
However, Thitikul, who since this season has preferred to be called Jeeno as her first name, has delivered a stratospheric end to the third round to challenge the American. She started the last nine holes with three consecutive birdies and finished with an eagle and a birdie for a fantastic six-under, 30 strokes, which has put her in the fight.
Tomorrow looks like a head-to-head between Yin and Thitikul. It must be said that the Thai has self-invited to the party with an extraordinary card of 63 strokes. Today’s performance wasn’t a case of the other player opening the door for her, far from it. In fact, Yin delivered a great card of 67 strokes starting as the leader, a result that under normal conditions should have further solidified her position at the top. Simply, Thitikul has sneaked in through the back door.
The two have a three-stroke advantage over the third-placed player, Chinese golfer Ruoning Yin (-12). It’s a comfortable margin to manage, but it can’t be considered definitive, especially not with a Major winner like Yin. In the pool of candidates, we could also include Charley Hull (-11) and Narin An (-11), but not much more. The Englishwoman is capable of going very low when inspired and could well be the big surprise on Sunday at the Tiburón Golf Club in Naples.
Who shouldn’t be in the fight for victory is Nelly Korda (-9). The best player of the year in women’s golf is far behind. She would need something similar to Thitikul’s performance today, which can’t be ruled out. At the same result is the French Celine Boutier.
Meanwhile, Carlota Ciganda (+1) hasn’t been able to completely turn around the bad feelings from yesterday when she signed for 75 strokes. Today she needed to go very low to give herself a chance of victory or at least to fight for the top ten, but a card of 73 strokes keeps her far from the positions of privilege.
