Moving Day at Honda LPGA Thailand
*All Tee Times Local
Jenny Shin, Lizette Salas, Minjee Lee: 10:10 A.M.
The lead group hasn’t had a track record of success at this event, but are scorching the course in the 89 degree heat regardless.
Jenny Shin leads the way at (-11), featuring five birdies in a row in the opening round from the 4th through 8th holes. Shin’s opening round 65 is the lowest round she’s carded in the tournament in her eight appearances at Honda LPGA Thailand. Her bogey at the 9th broke the streak, but she returned the favor yesterday, birdieing the 7th-9th holes en route to a (-4) 68. The 65th ranked player in the world needs to reverse her weekend trend in Thailand to secure her second career win, as she hasn’t broken par in her final round since 2014.
Salas, like Shin, only has one top 10 finish in Thailand in six appearances in the event. She turned the corner last year at the Pattaaya Old Course in her final two rounds, posting (-7) over the last 36 holes. Her opening two rounds were close in score, (-6) and (-4), but featured nine birdies in round one and four birdies in a bogey free second round.
Minjee Lee has found the most success of the group, sitting one stroke worse than where she was last year through 36 holes at this event at (-10). Lee’s in position to replicate her hot start from last season, where she finished in the top six in her first three events. This year, she’s finished in 3rd and 4th in her opening two appearances.
Eun-Hee Ji, Austin Ernst, Amy Yang: 9:58 A.M.
Eun-Hee Ji’s opening stanza to the season was akin to Alicia Key’s “This Girl is on Fire”, winning the Diamond Resorts Tournament of Champions, and following up with a nine under 63 in her second event of the season here. Someone doused her with water in her (-1) second round, but the sparks are still there for her to catch aflame again. She’s been more accurate to the green, identifying in her post round press conference that, “I’m pretty sure I’m hitting it a little closer so I’ve got more looks at birdies.” She sits one off the lead at (-10) with plenty of time to make up the gap for back to back wins to start the season.
Austin Ernst finds herself in contention on the back of a bogey free 66. The 2017 U.S. Solheim Cup team member is fighting for a 2019 spot, sitting in a tie for 8th with Cristie Kerr and four players behind her within 15 points. She’s been awfully consistent the final two rounds since the move to the Pattaaya Old Course: she’s shot 69 in four consecutive weekend rounds in Thailand.
Amy Yang looks to keep up the odd year magic, looking for her third consecutive win in an odd year. It’ll be a different formula this year, as she currently is T5 at (-9). She sat in second place heading into the weekend in 2015. In 2017, she led for all 72 holes. She sits two shots back at (-9), with major goals on the near horizon: winning her first major.
Amy Olson, Danielle Kang, Carlota Ciganda 9:46 A.M
Sitting alongside Yang, Amy Olson sits at (-9) with a consistent 67/68 heading into the weekend. It’s the 43rd Rolex Rankings first appearance in Thailand, and a strong weekend performance will extend her top 10 streak. She ended the ’18 season with a T10 finish at the CME Group Tour Championship, and opened up her ’19 campaign with a T10 finish at the ISPS Handa Women’s Australian Open.
Danielle Kang is returning to the LPGA fold from freezing cold Las Vegas, where it was 32 degrees when she left. She’s been near the top of the leaderboard at this event before, when in 2017 she was in 6th place heading into the weekend. She moved up two spots in a (-6) weekend effort, to post her best finish at this event at T4. Her two rounds this week featured no bogeys in her opening (-7) round and four bogeys in her (-1) second round effort, to sit three back of the lead at (-8).
Carlota Ciganda sits four back at (-7), in a four way tie for 9th. The Spaniard came into the opening international swing of the season with a strong finish in the Asia swing in 2018, featuring three top 10 finishes and a T11 in four consecutive weeks. She was unable to carry the momentum to the land down under, finishing T27 after sitting in 10th heading into the weekend. Her strong play gives her a chance to correct course, though Thailand hasn’t been her best event. She’s searching for her first top 10 here in six appearances.
Click here for complete groups and tee times for the third round of the 2019 Honda LPGA Thailand.
Numbers to Know
2- Number of holes in one on the LPGA this season with Thailand's own Thidapa Suwannapura acing the 4th, her first hole in one of her professional career.
5- Number of countries represented in the Top 9 of the leaderboard.
(-7)- Leading score by a Thai National, Moriya Jutanugarn, sitting T9.
63- The low round of the tournament, shot by Eun-Hee Ji in the opening round.
The Cut
Doesn’t exist this week with the field at 70 players. Look to see if players who’ve struggled through 36 can replicate Sarah Kemp’s performance after the 54 hole cut at the ISPS Handa Victoria Open, where she made the 54 hole cut on the number then charged to a T2 finish.
TV Times
Moving Day will air from 11:30 P.M. to 3:30 A.M. ET Friday to Saturday on Golf Channel, and the final round will air in the same timeslot, from 11:30 P.M. to 3:30 A.M. ET Saturday to Sunday.
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