“It’s a Thai tournament.”
Pavarisa Yoktuan isn’t wrong. Along with her Team-World-War-3 comrade Wichanee Meechai, the Thai duo is in a tie for third at the halfway point of the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational. At 11-under overall, they are three shots back of leaders, fellow Thailand natives and their good friends, Ariya and Moriya Jutanugarn.
“I don’t know, maybe we all feel more comfortable when we play together because we’re kind of close,” said Meechai.
“We hang out a lot,” Yoktuan added with a laugh. “Not just me and [Wichanee], like all Thai people. We have 10 Thai people here, and Dottie [Ardina] is Filipino but she’s like the No. 11. All of us like always hang out together. We all know each other and we feel comfortable with each other, so it’s good.”
A couple additional Thai competitors near the top of the leaderboard at Midland Country Club include Pajaree Anannarukarn, in solo second with playing partner Aditi Ashok, while Jasmine Suwannapura is in a tie for fifth with Cydney Clanton as members of Team All In, the defending champions.
Meechai and Yoktuan turned in a bogey-free 63 in the third round. That performance shifted their focus from simply making the cut, to winning the tournament.
“It’s about how we’re going to be up there. Honestly, we don’t really have the chance to be up here [at the top of the leaderboard] much, especially for me, but she [Wichanee] is having a really good year,” said Yoktuan, who has played the weekend twice in seven starts this season. “This is a good chance and we just need to be grinding for it.”
)
)
)
)
