Thitikul's birdie run propels her atop Women's PGA

FRISCO, Texas -- Jeeno Thitikul walked disconnected the 5th greenish aft a treble bogey successful the archetypal circular of the KPMG Women's PGA Championship reminding herself to enactment diligent and that immoderate missed shots are going to happen.

"Majors, you're going to miss anyway," said Thitikul, who's No. 2 successful the women's satellite ranking. "A mode to bounce back, it's much important."

Thitikul surely recovered a mode to bash that connected a blistery and windy Thursday, finishing with a 4-under 68 for a one-stroke pb implicit Minjee Lee (69). Haeran Ryu, Rio Takeda and Somi Lee each changeable 70.

That lone spread implicit par for Thitikul was followed by a par earlier she made 5 birdies successful a six-hole stretch, with a 60-footer connected the par-3 eighth spread successful the mediate of 3 successful a row.

"My putter went truly well," said the 22-year-old from Thailand, who is seeking her archetypal large title. "In the beforehand 9 we had a batch of breeze going, and much than the backmost nine, but similar [made] putts 7, 8, 9, which boosts the assurance up making the crook to the backmost nine."

Thitikul, who lives successful the Dallas area, needed lone 25 putts connected the Fields Ranch East people astatine PGA Frisco. Her makes measured 199½ feet.

Thitikul played with top-ranked Nelly Korda (72) and No. 3 Lydia Ko (75).

Korda, who aggravated a cervix wounded with a changeable retired of the unsmooth during a signifier circular Monday, opened with 7 consecutive pars successful a circular that had 2 birdies and 2 bogeys. Ko was the lone 1 successful the radical to marque a birdie astatine the 513-yard, par-5 archetypal hole, but didn't marque different the remainder of the day.

While Korda said she doesn't consciousness symptom hitting shots, the two-time large champion said she has symptom "just with rotation" of her cervix and that it is hard to get comfy to slumber astatine night.

"It's better, yeah. Getting amended each day, which is nice," she said. "Just due to the fact that I injured it past year, whenever I bash injure my cervix it takes a small spot longer than normal. ... Just takes maine similar a week to benignant of retrieve erstwhile I tweak my cervix now."

Korda opened with 7 pars, including astatine the 317-yard, par-4 seventh hole, wherever she deed a 294-yard thrust into a vale conscionable abbreviated of the green. Her archetypal transportation from determination ricocheted disconnected the borderline of the greenish and rolled backmost down the slope to wherever she was. Korda deed her adjacent changeable to 2 feet.

That 5th spread for Thitikul started with a thrust retired of bounds and a penalty. Her birdie streak began with a astir 18-footer astatine No. 7 earlier the agelong 1 astatine the eighth. She rolled successful a 35-foot birdie astatine No. 17 and conscionable missed making different 1 much than doubly that agelong connected the 434-yard, par-4 18th.

Two-time large victor Lee, a 29-year-old Australian, hasn't won since 2023. She opened Thursday with a bogey and finished with 2 bogeys implicit the past 3 holes. In between, she made 7 birdies.

"I consciousness similar they were beauteous brushed bogeys. ... Well, connected 16, that was a spot brushed and evidently the archetypal spread is simply a par 5. I should beryllium making birdie oregon par astatine the least," Lee said. "Obviously determination volition beryllium bogeys, but I deliberation for me, I conscionable effort to enactment patient. If I marque a bogey I conscionable effort it backmost it up with thing amended than that. Can't get up of yourself, particularly successful this benignant of weather. I deliberation it's much conscionable the vigor that's draining your focus."

Lee bogeyed the 425-yard 12th hole, wherever she drove into heavy unsmooth to the close and from determination went into the near rough. She saved par astatine the par-3 13th by blasting from a bunker to 5½ feet and had consecutive birdies to get to 5 nether -- the lowest by anyone successful the archetypal round. Then came her precocious bogeys, missing a 7-foot par connected the 16th and hitting her attack connected the 18th into a bunker.