LPGA Tour rookie Jin Hee Im and 21-year-old Thai star Atthaya Thitikul share the 36-hole lead (-8) at The Chevron Championship after both shot 69-67 through the first two days at The Club at Carlton Woods. Heading into the second round, the two were T5 and three strokes out of Lauren Coughlin’s first-round lead before a bogey-free day from Im and a six-birdie, one-bogey round for Thitikul put the young players on top of the leaderboard heading into Moving Day.
Im is making her first-ever start in a major championship this week in The Woodlands and is now holding her first-ever lead or co-lead on the LPGA Tour. The 25-year-old earned Tour status for the 2024 season after finishing T17 at LPGA Q-Series in December. But even though she is a rookie, the Korean player has plenty of experience winning professional golf tournaments. Im is a six-time winner on the KLPGA Tour, earning four of those wins just last season.
“Everything was good last year (on the KLPGA), and I know the courses pretty well. I played there five years,” said Im on her success in 2023. When asked why she chose to enter Q-Series to test her skill on the LPGA Tour, she said, “In KLPGA they retire a little bit earlier than --the players, they retire a little bit earlier than the LPGA, so I tried to play more in here. I want the challenge (of) more big tour. That's why I tried LPGA.”
So far this season, Im has played in just three events on Tour with a season-best finish of T27 at the FIR HILLS SERI PAK Championship. While that may seem like too few starts, Thitikul has even less in 2024. The 2022 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year is making her first appearance of the season here at The Chevron Championship, having recently recovered from a thumb injury that began a few weeks after the 2023 CME Group Tour Championship and was resolved just three weeks ago, according to Thitikul. Leaning on good memories from her T4 finish in last year’s playing of the major, Thitikul made up for lost time and made sure to appreciate the opportunity to compete on Tour.
“I think the rest now like is just a bonus for me. I mean, coming here this week I think making the cut is -- it's good enough because, you know, I wasn't be out here for so long,” she said. “Starting my season with major week is -- it's not that easy, so I think from now on it's just a bonus for me. Just go out there, staying positive, and then also being out there smiling and then just do my best.”
Im was one of five players to go bogey-free on Friday, making birdie on three of the four par-5s (Nos. 4, 8 and 13) and carding two more on 6 and 17. Thitikul went out in 33 thanks to birdies on 5, 7 and 8, and then went birdie-bogey-birdie on 13, 14 and 15. She finished with a birdie on the par-5 18th to take the second 36-hole lead or co-lead of her Tour career. The last time she led after 36 holes, she won the 2022 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship.
Four-time 2024 Tour winner Nelly Korda sits one stroke back of Thitikul and Im at -7. She shot a second-round 69 on Friday and is one of just three players to post two rounds in 60s this week, along with the leaders. Korda is coming off her third-straight LPGA Tour victory and fourth in consecutive starts on Tour. With a win this week, she will tie Annika Sorenstam’s and Nancy Lopez’s record for most wins in consecutive starts on the LPGA Tour. Although she is looking to add her name into the history books, Korda recognized there’s still a lot of golf left to play.
“I'm just at the halfway point right now. The amount of golf that I've played, I still have that to go,” said Korda when asked how she is handling the pressure of her historic run. “There is still a lot of golf left and anything can happen. Just going to stick to my process and ‘vibe with it,’ is what my coach says.”
Last season’s Rolex Rookie of the Year, Hae Ran Ryu, sits in solo fourth at -6. First-round leader Lauren Coughlin couldn’t find her opening-round rhythm but remains in the top-5 after a shooting a 1-over 73 on Friday. She shares the T5 spot with four other players including Sweden’s Maja Stark, Japan’s Minami Katsu, Korea’s Shinsil Bang, and Weiwei Zhang of the Republic of China. Sponsor exemption and the 2024 Augusta National Women’s Open champion Lottie Woad sits in a tie for 10th with seven other players at -4.
Seventy-three players made the cut at +2 following Friday’s round. Notables to miss the cut are past champions Patty Tavatanakit (2021), Jin Young Ko (2019), Pernilla Lindberg (2018), Lexi Thompson (2014), Stacy Lewis (2011), Yani Tseng (2010) and So Yeon Ryu (2017), who announced her retirement from the LPGA Tour following The Chevron Championship.
“I wanted to make sure this week is like celebrate week, not sad week. It's been very touching. Like a lot of people just came up to me and then congrats me and then give all the warm word to me. I just feel very blessed. You cannot really have this feeling often. Maybe this is my first and last. So I really tried my best to enjoy like all the thing. Even out there I tried to enjoyed having a thrill tee shot, tough chip shot, the nervousness when I had a birdie putt kind of stuff,” said Ryu. “I think I'm very satisfied with my week.”
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