The two best players in the world were the two best players on the course at the CME Group Tour Championship on Friday.
Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikul fired a 9-under-par 63 to vault into a three-stroke lead at the LPGA’s season finale at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Fla. And Nelly Korda made a charge with an 8-under 64 to move into a tie for fifth, within shouting distance of Thitikul at the midpoint of the tournament.
World No. 1 Thitikul still has a healthy cushion at 14-under 130. Sei Young Kim of South Korea is alone in second at 11 under after shooting 66 on Friday. Japan’s Nasa Hataoka (67) and first-round leader Somi Lee of South Korea (70) are tied at 10 under.
And Korda has company at 9 under: Australia’s Minjee Lee, Canadian Brooke M. Henderson and Thailand’s Pajaree Anannarukarn all shot 67 to join that tie.
On the line is an $11 million prize purse with a $4 million check for the winner, one of the most lucrative paydays in women’s golf.
Thitikul won that prize last season and is vying to become the second woman to win this tournament back to back (Jin-young Ko of South Korea did so in 2020 and 2021).
“Still had no complaint with like a bogey-free and then nine birdies, so I’ll take it,” Thitikul quipped.
Thitikul won the PIF Saudi Ladies International in February, followed by the Mizuho Americas Open and the Buick LPGA Shanghai during the LPGA season. She knows what it will take to win the Tour Championship.
“As I always say, all the winners here, the score like 20-plus something (under par), which is really low-scoring,” she said. “… We just need to make more and more and more.”
Kim played with Thitikul on Friday and will do so again in the final group Saturday thanks to a late run of birdies. Kim made five birdies with a bogey in a six-hole stretch to start the back nine, then added one for good measure at the par-5 17th.
Kim noticed she was far behind Thitikul when they made the turn Friday, she said.
“I was like, ‘Oh, I need something,'” Kim recalled. “Yeah, I try to make them a lot of birdies, especially back nine. So, yeah, I got the fire back nine.”
Then there’s ex-world No. 1 Korda, who has yet to win the Tour Championship and has gone all year without a victory while more recently missing some time to heal up unspecified injuries.
On Friday, Korda holed nine birdies and recorded just one bogey. She felt she played better Thursday than her round of 71 showed, but she was rewarded Friday.
“It’s definitely great, especially after yesterday, being a little frustrated,” Korda said. “Coming back out here this morning, you know, the conditions were great. The wind wasn’t really that strong. Was able to be really aggressive after a lot of these pins and rolled some putts in.”
Other notables include Jennifer Kupcho and New Zealand’s Lydia Ko at 7 under after rounds of 68; Charley Hull of England (69) at 6 under; and U.S. Women’s Open winner Maja Stark of Sweden and English phenom Lottie Woad at 5 under after matching 69s.
