Jeeno extends lead at Women's PGA Championship
Jeeno, the world number two from Thailand, started the day with a one-shot lead over Australia's Minjee Lee at Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco north of Dallas.
She teed off on the 10th hole and after a bogey at 12 was back in control with birdies at the 15th and third.
She gave a stroke back at the par-three fourth, where she missed the green, but rolled in a 12-foot birdie at the eighth and a four-footer at the ninth to finish 36 holes on six-under 138.
"The wind and the rough," the 22-year-old said of the toughest challenges on a day when only 14 players broke par.
The 22-year-old, who has won already this year on both the Ladies European Tour and the LPGA Tour, is chasing her first major title.
She was three strokes clear of Australian Minjee Lee and Japan's Rio Takeda.
Jeeno said she actually played better than she had in posting a 68 on Thursday.
"I had better tee shots than yesterday and put myself in the positions that I have a chance," she said. "If not, I just tried to make par. I think par, it's a really big key here -- no birdies but 18 pars, you take it."
Lee, who started the day one adrift, had three birdies and three bogeys in her even par 72.
Takeda teed off on 10 and had all four of her birdies on her second nine: three in a row at the fourth, fifth and sixth and an up and down from a bunker at the ninth in a one-under 71.
Lee also said the wind was a key factor, making club selection difficult.
"It just felt like it was so much more magnified," Lee said. "Yesterday the ball, I mean, if it was a left-to-right wind and I hit a little bit of a draw it didn't really touch it as much as, like, today I hit a draw and it still went left to right.
"I just tried to stay patient out there," she added. "It was really windy and quite hard to even hold the greens on some of them."
Take your medicine
Only seven players finished the day under par for the tournament.
US veteran Lexi Thompson was alone in fourth after a 70 for two-under 142 with South Korean Lee So-mi, Japan's Chisato Iwai and American Auston Kim sharing fifth on one-under 143.
Thompson, an 11-time LPGA winner who is playing a limited schedule this year, was among the earliest starters and had three birdies before a bogey at 18 in her two-under 70.
"(It) got pretty windy even for the morning," Thompson said. "It was blowing more than it did yesterday, so I knew I just had to commit to my lines out there.
"It's a tough golf course, especially when the wind blows. If you miss the fairways you just have to take your medicine, pitch out, and try to save par any way you can, make the worst score a bogey."
World number one Nelly Korda carded a two-over 74, finally mustering two birdies in her last three holes to finish the day eight strokes off the lead.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
France 24
5 hours ago
- France 24
Jeeno extends lead at Women's PGA Championship
Jeeno, the world number two from Thailand, started the day with a one-shot lead over Australia's Minjee Lee at Fields Ranch East at PGA Frisco north of Dallas. She teed off on the 10th hole and after a bogey at 12 was back in control with birdies at the 15th and third. She gave a stroke back at the par-three fourth, where she missed the green, but rolled in a 12-foot birdie at the eighth and a four-footer at the ninth to finish 36 holes on six-under 138. "The wind and the rough," the 22-year-old said of the toughest challenges on a day when only 14 players broke par. The 22-year-old, who has won already this year on both the Ladies European Tour and the LPGA Tour, is chasing her first major title. She was three strokes clear of Australian Minjee Lee and Japan's Rio Takeda. Jeeno said she actually played better than she had in posting a 68 on Thursday. "I had better tee shots than yesterday and put myself in the positions that I have a chance," she said. "If not, I just tried to make par. I think par, it's a really big key here -- no birdies but 18 pars, you take it." Lee, who started the day one adrift, had three birdies and three bogeys in her even par 72. Takeda teed off on 10 and had all four of her birdies on her second nine: three in a row at the fourth, fifth and sixth and an up and down from a bunker at the ninth in a one-under 71. Lee also said the wind was a key factor, making club selection difficult. "It just felt like it was so much more magnified," Lee said. "Yesterday the ball, I mean, if it was a left-to-right wind and I hit a little bit of a draw it didn't really touch it as much as, like, today I hit a draw and it still went left to right. "I just tried to stay patient out there," she added. "It was really windy and quite hard to even hold the greens on some of them." Take your medicine Only seven players finished the day under par for the tournament. US veteran Lexi Thompson was alone in fourth after a 70 for two-under 142 with South Korean Lee So-mi, Japan's Chisato Iwai and American Auston Kim sharing fifth on one-under 143. Thompson, an 11-time LPGA winner who is playing a limited schedule this year, was among the earliest starters and had three birdies before a bogey at 18 in her two-under 70. "(It) got pretty windy even for the morning," Thompson said. "It was blowing more than it did yesterday, so I knew I just had to commit to my lines out there. "It's a tough golf course, especially when the wind blows. If you miss the fairways you just have to take your medicine, pitch out, and try to save par any way you can, make the worst score a bogey." World number one Nelly Korda carded a two-over 74, finally mustering two birdies in her last three holes to finish the day eight strokes off the lead.
France 24
9 hours ago
- France 24
Fleetwood, Thomas and Scheffler share PGA Travelers lead
Thomas reeled off five consecutive birdies in firing a six-under par 64 while Fleetwood shot 65 and Scheffler fired a 69 to all stand on nine-under 131 for 36 holes at windy TPC River Highlands in Cromwell, Connecticut. Paris Olympic runner-up Fleetwood, ranked 17th, matched his season-low round. He has seven European Tour wins but seeks his first PGA Tour victory. Fleetwood eagled the par-five 13th after reaching the green in two and sinking a putt from just inside 10 feet, then chipped in at the par-four 14th for eagle from the fairway from just inside 90 feet. "Would have been happy walking off with two birdies," Fleetwood said. "But two eagles was a big bonus." A 12-foot birdie putt at the par-three 16th gave him a share of the lead. "It happened really quick. You don't expect two eagles in three holes," he said. "You don't really look for those things to happen. "I played really well. Felt like I did a great job of scrapping on the front nine then played well on the back nine." Fifth-ranked Thomas, a two-time major winner, opened the back nine with a bogey then birdied the next five holes. The last two in the run, at the 14th and 15th, were from just beyond 26 feet each. "I was very patient. I hit a lot of really good iron shots. I felt like I was in good control," Thomas said. "I didn't feel like I drove it very well. I kept it in play and kept it in front of me, which is a big part of it, but I just kept it out of trouble. Finally made some putts on that back nine. It was nice." Scheffler, who won his third major title at last month's PGA Championship, stumbled back with a double bogey at 17, plunking his second shot into the water. "I played really nice," Scheffler said. "Had a weird lie on the second shot and kind of chunked it. After that I hit each shot the way I wanted, just didn't get the results from it. "Outside of that, I felt like I played pretty well. It was very challenging out there with the wind gusts." Scheffler made a bogey at the par-five sixth after missing the green with his approach but responded with birdies at the seventh on a putt from just inside seven feet and the ninth from just inside 10 feet. At the par-five 13th, Scheffler reached the green in two and two-putted for birdie from 24 feet to grab the solo lead, then sank a birdie putt from just inside 17 feet. Day just one shot back Australian Jason Day, the 2015 PGA Championship winner, made three birdies in a row on holes 12-14 -- all on putts between four and eight feet -- and closed with a 21-foot birdie putt to shoot 66 and take fourth on 132. "There's 40-mph gusts out there," Day said. "You had to hit on the right wind." Americans Denny McCarthy and Austin Eckroat shared fifth on 133. World number two Rory McIlroy made bogeys on three of the first four holes then made birdies on three of the first six on the back nine as he battled to a 71 to stand on 135. "I hit some good shots and held it together when it could have got away from me early in the round," McIlroy said. "I felt like I battled back pretty well. "To get it back somewhat close to even par for the day was good. The conditions definitely bunched the entire field together and should make for an exciting weekend." © 2025 AFP
France 24
12 hours ago
- France 24
Habz, Stark light up Diamond League as Girma banishes Paris blues
Paris proved to be the perfect testing ground as athletes continue to fine-tune their form ahead of September's world championships in Tokyo. Habz sent the partisan crowd into raptures by becoming the sixth fastest man over 1500m of all time, riding the coattails of two pacemakers to clock 3:27.49 for a meet record and new French best. In a shockingly fast race, Kenya's Phanuel Kipkosgei Koech set a world junior record in second, while 11 of the next 12 athletes all timed personal bests, including national records for the Netherlands, Belgium and South Africa. "It's incredible, there's no other word for it," said the 31-year-old Morocco-born Habz, twice a minor medallist at European indoors. "It's truly a dream come true. To succeed in a race like this in Paris is even stronger." There were a rash of further meet records in perfect, hot conditions at Stade Charlety. American Stark clocked 12.21sec in the 100m hurdles to go joint fifth fastest of all time, holding off Nigeria's 2022 world champion and world record holder Tobi Amusan. "I wanted to break that 12.3 so bad!" Stark said. "It feels that I can have a party. "And then, I just need to keep working, taking it race by race, stay focused and stay quiet." Dominican Republic's Marileidy Paulino made no mistake in the women's 400m although she had to pull out all stops down the home straight to outpace Bahraini rival Salwa Eid Naser. Paulino, gold medallist at last year's Paris Olympics and the 2023 worlds in Budapest, made it three victories in a row at Charlety in 48.81sec, four-hundredths ahead of Naser. American Rai Benjamin also racked up a meet record of 46.93sec in the 400m hurdles, making easy work of the victory in the absence of Norwegian arch-rival Karsten Warholm and Brazilian Alison Dos Santos. "Sub-47 is impressive. I just ran smart and ran for the win," said Benjamin. 'A little scared' Ethiopia's Lamecha Girma lit up the 2023 edition of the Meeting de Paris by smashing the previous world record (7:52.11) for the 3,000m steeplechase. There was disaster at the Paris Olympics, however, after Girma fell heavily in the last lap of the Stade de France track. But he made a winning return to Stade Charlety, winning in 8:07.01 after admitting he had overcome a sense of dread. "This is a big thing for me today, especially after the Paris Olympics," Girma said. "It feels it was a long time ago, so this was very important for me. This is a very big achievement, so I am very happy." "I was a little scared at first getting into the race. Now that the race is finished I feel much better." Morocco's Sofiane El Bakkali is the two-time Olympic steeplechase champion, but he opted to race the 5,000m in Paris alongside the Ethiopian Yomif Kejelcha, who claimed his 11th Diamond League victory in 12:47.84. Kenya's Faith Cherotich ran a world lead of 8:53.37 in the women's steeplechase, holding off Uganda's Peruth Chemutai. Australia's Nicola Olyslagers, a two-time world indoor champion who has won twice in Paris (2021, 2023), won the women's high jump with a best of 2.00m. Ukraine's Yaroslava Mahuchikh, the world and Olympic champion who set the current world record of 2.10 metres at last year's Diamond League meet in Paris, finished second with 1.97m on countback from another Australian, Eleanor Patterson. Grant Holloway, the three-time world champion and Olympic gold medallist making his return to action after a disastrous opening outing in China, could only finish fifth in the 110m hurdles, albeit in a season's best of 13.11sec. It was his US teammate Trey Cunningham who won in a personal best of 13.00sec, ahead of Dylan Beard, also in a PB of 13.02sec, while Jason Joseph set a Swiss record of 13.07 for third. And Spain's Mohamed Attaoui picked an inside line to outpace the American duo of Josh Hoey and Bryce Hoppel in what he called a "brutal" 800m in a season's best of 1:42.73.
