At the Honda LPGA Thailand, two things happened for three days in a row. It’s the sweltering heat and Patty Tavatanakit’s scoring of him in the mid-60s.
Tavatanakit signed a 6-under 66 on the front nine on Saturday, including four birdies and one eagle. This improved her total to 16 under par for the tournament, three strokes ahead of Madeleine Sagstrom and Choi Hye-jin through 54 holes. Tavatanakit started the day tied for first with Sagstrom and Sei-young Kim.
“I’m really proud of my performance today,” Tavatanakit said after the round.
“The heat is very tiring and makes me tired. I’m going to conserve my energy and try tomorrow.”
Temperatures in Thavatanakit’s hometown of Bangkok, Thailand, have been above 90 degrees all week. She attended a high school 30 miles from Siam Country Club, the site of her tournament this week.
“I have a lot of obligations this week so far. I feel like I haven’t really had time to prepare. Still, I went into this week with an open mind to learn the position of going into my home event as last week’s champion. ”Tavatanakit said when asked about playing on his home ground.
Photo by: Thananuwat Srirasant/Getty Images
“There’s a lot of pressure, but you can think of it as an encouragement to be happy to be playing in front of the fans.”
Tavatanakit, who won the 2021 ANA Inspiration (now named the Chevron Championship), arrived in Bangkok fresh off her victory at last week’s Aramco Saudi Ladies International.
She is in the best position to win again, and if she continues to win, it would be her first LPGA win since 2021.
If she continues to win, Tavatanakit will become the first player since last summer to win back-to-back tournaments on the European Women’s Tour and LPGA sanctioned tournaments. Céline Boutier won the Amundi Evian Championship, followed by winning the Women’s Scottish Open several weeks in a row.
It would be a great result for Tavatanakit, especially considering the heat, the move from Saudi Arabia to Thailand and the pressure to win at home.
But she’s keeping her schedule light on Saturday and hopes to be able to start Sunday feeling fresh.
“I have some plans, like dinner with friends. Ideally, I’ll save up as much energy as possible and use it on the course,” Tabatanaquit said.
Jack Mirko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through.Be sure to check it out @_PlayingThrough Cover more golf. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko In the same way.
