by 
Thailand’s Atthaya “Jeeno” Thitikul overcame two late bogeys to close with a birdie and extend her lead over Hall of Famer Lydia Ko to two shots Saturday at the LPGA Queen City Championship.
Jeeno, like New Zealander Ko, a former world number one, had increased her lead from one shot to four overnight when she holed a long putt from the fringe for her fifth birdie of the day at the 15th.
Back-to-back bogeys at 16 and 17 saw the lead dwindle, but she closed with a two-putt birdie at the par-five 18th for a four-under par 68 and a 54-hole total of 16-under 200.
Ko, playing her first tournament since winning Olympic gold in Paris and then lifting the trophy at the Women’s British Open last month, shook off an opening bogey to land four birdies in a score of three-under 69 for 202.
She was one stroke ahead of China’s Liu Yan, who had a double bogey and a bogey on the front nine but notched an eagle and three birdies for a 68 on the Arnold Palmer-designed TPC River’s Bend near Cincinnati, which is hosting the tournament for the first time.
“It’s still a pretty good round, I guess,” said Jeeno, who was a little deflated after her bogeys at 16 and 17, but had a mammoth drive at 18 to give herself a look at eagle.
“I don’t know how I can hit that far off the tee,” she said, adding that the increasing firmness of the fairways was actually the reason.
“It’s definitely not my length,” she said.
While the extra length can sometimes be helpful, she said that’s not always the case.
“On the fairway, we can’t really predict anything,” she said. “I had a few holes that I hit really well and it ran out in the rough.”
Jeeno, who said last month she preferred to use her nickname, is seeking her fourth LPGA title, but only her second in a regular stroke-play event.
She won the 2022 NW Arkansas Championship and was part of the Thai team that won the 2023 International Crown match play. In June, she teamed with China’s Yin Ruoning to win the Dow Championship pairs event.
Ko, who at 17 became the youngest number one ranked player in professional golf, is looking to extend the momentum that saw her triumph at the Paris Games and then win her first major title in eight years at St. Andrews. .
“I think overall I was very consistent with my ball striking,” Ko said. “Putting was the most average part of my game this week. I was still able to making crucial putts at the right time.
“Sometimes when you give yourself so many opportunities you feel like you’re not as successful as you really are, so I was just trying not to put myself down.
“If I keep giving each other bird looks, at some point it’s going to fall apart.”
bb/js
