- Jeeno Thitikul recovered from a recent loss where she four-putted the final hole.
- After a rough start at the Buick LPGA Shanghai, Thitikul shot a 65 in the first round.
- Thitikul is two strokes behind the leader heading into the final round after a third-round 66.
- The top-ranked player says she values every tournament position, not just winning.
Nothing has made total sense in Jeeno Thitikul’s world of late. The world’s top-ranked player, she leads the LPGA in putting and in her last outing at the Kroger Queen City Championship, Thitikul buried some huge putts on the back nine, then fell apart on the final hole, four-putting and handing the title to Charley Hull.
In her first start since the fiasco, Thitikul showed some residual effects, opening bogey, double-bogey in the first round at the Buick LPGA Shanghai before straightening the ship. By the end of the day, she once again looked in command, shooting a 65.
Those bumps appear well in the rearview mirror now, as Thitikul was again her old self on Saturday during the third round, posting a blemish-free 66 that has her just two strokes behind leader Minami Katsu heading into the final day.
As for lessons learned, Thitikul said she simply tries to keep her focus on a daily basis.
“Take it just really good. It’s just like people might value the winner and then people might remembering the winner, but I think for in my perspective I value every position the same,” she said. “I mean, like getting the win should be really good, but after you get the win, you be the same as well.
“So what I learning is the five wins that I have on the LPGA is the past as well, so I don’t like — like I don’t carry in my shoulder. I don’t carry it in my head. If you told me I can get second in every tournaments in this year for the whole season, 30 something, I’ll take it.”
