The Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G is shaping up to be a thrilling contest, with Jeeno Thitikul just edging ahead of Lydia Ko after the second round.
The rising star and the LPGA legend are putting on a show, with Thitikul finishing at 12-under par, holding a slim one-stroke lead over Ko, who sits at 11-under.
Thitikul got her momentum going right away, starting her round on the 10th hole. By the time she hit the 11th, she’d already picked up her first birdie, and she didn’t stop there.
A seven-foot birdie on the 13th and back-to-back birdies on 17 and 18 had her cruising. She may have dropped a shot with a bogey on No. 1, but she picked it right back up with birdies on the par-5 sixth and eighth holes, going a perfect four-for-four on the course’s par 5s.
She capped off her day with another birdie on the notoriously tricky ninth hole, sticking her approach within five feet for a smooth finish.
“It’s pretty good,” Thitikul said about her round. “I think it’s really kind of a low-scoring course, so a lot of players get low on this course. The par 5s are reachable.”
And about that challenging No. 9? “It is [hard] because you have water on the front, and then if you go long, it’s going to be in the rough and downhill lie. But just commit to the shot.”
Ko, who was out in the softer morning conditions, had a calmer start with five straight pars before picking up steam. A birdie on the sixth got her going, and then she nailed an eagle on the eighth after holing a chip from just off the green.
She stayed steady from there, adding birdies on 13, 14, and 18 to wrap up a bogey-free round. She’s now the only player in the field without a bogey through 36 holes.
“I feel like I set myself a good plan going into the week,” Ko shared. “That’s what I’m going to stick to. I know there is still a lot of golf to be played.”
Right behind Thitikul and Ko is Haeran Ryu at 10-under. Ryu, who grabbed her second career win just two weeks ago, has been on fire all season with eight top-10 finishes.
Gaby Lopez, Maria Fassi, and Yealimi Noh are among the pack sitting at 9-under, with China’s Yan Liu also making a surprising leap into the top five after missing the cut in her last seven starts.
With 76 players making the cut at 1-under, we’re in for a tense Moving Day as the big names battle it out for the championship.
Keep an eye on Thitikul and Ko as they duel for the title, but don’t count out the rest of the field just yet—anything can happen this weekend.
