Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand remained atop the leaderboard for the third straight day as she looks to defend her title at the Mizuho Americas Open in West Caldwell, New Jersey.
Thitikul saw her three-shot advantage after the second round trimmed to two strokes during Saturday’s third round. She carded a 2-under-par 70, finishing 54 holes at 10-under 206.
France’s Celine Boutier followed her Friday 68 with a 67, climbing into solo second place at 8 under. South Korea’s Hye-Jin Choi (7 under) and Allisen Corpuz (6 under) posted the day’s low rounds, both with 66s, moving into third and a share of fourth, respectively. China’s Ruoning Yin (68) and Australia’s Hannah Green (68) are tied with Corpuz.
Thitikul won the tournament last year at Liberty National Golf Club, but it shifted 27 miles northwest to Mountain Ridge Country Club this season.
The world No. 2 in the Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings bogeyed the second hole but responded with back-to-back birdies on Nos. 7 and 8. She added a birdie on the par-5 17th to reach 10 under for the first time in the event. Thitikul has missed only six greens through 54 holes.
“I think maybe I just not, you know, expect the perfect shot just going in the hole,” she said. “I mean, I just pick my target or where I want to start the ball and I just commit and then hit the ball.”
Boutier bogeyed the first hole to drop to 2 under, but played bogey-free for the remainder of the round, recording three birdies on each nine. The 32-year-old former Duke standout played the four par-3s in 3 under.
“I feel like I learn a little bit more each day on this course,” Boutier said. “Today the conditions were a bit more difficult toward the end, but it was actually really calm for the first 12 holes or so. So it was playing slightly easier. I feel like I gave myself more birdie chances, which helped a lot.”
Choi, who began the day tied for 13th, birdied five of eight holes in the middle of her round and cut her putt count from 36 on Friday to 29 on Saturday.
“I think it was because actually I really hit a lot of putts yesterday, but it was because the green was still hard and if I hit the second shot far to the pin, it was hard to make two putts,” Choi said. “So I made lots of three-putts yesterday. Compared to yesterday, today I didn’t really have a long putt left, and I made a good save on the difficult putts, too.”
Jennifer Kupcho (3 under) and Brooke Matthews (2 under), who started the day in second and third place, both shot 2-over 74 to fall out of the top nine.
