It is becoming a weekly habit for this Thai rookie. The name Patty Tavatanakit has not been hard to find on LPGA Tour leaderboards.  

 

PATTY TAVATANAKIT

 

Since winning the 2021 ANA Inspiration, a career-defining moment, the UCLA star and California native has not let up and shows no signs of being satisfied.

 

She’s notched three top-5 finishes after missing the cut at the HUGEL-AIR PREMIA LA Open, and finished T26 at the difficult Olympic Club at the U.S. Women’s Open. Another good start in Daly City and Tavatanakit remains hungry and humble.  

 

“As long as I have high finishes and try to play the best I can, to get the win is great but if not, top-10 and top five is always a good week,” said Tavatanakit, who fired a second-round 71 and is 3-under in the LPGA MEDIHEAL Championship.

 

“You walk off the course going home with the satisfaction of feeling like, ‘Okay, I had a good week. What's next?’ 

 

“I have been playing solidly and my name is always kind of up there. If anything is going to go wrong, it's not going to be as bad. It's just like you are playing well, whatever you do it's going to be okay, or if you do great it's going to be great. I just take it as that. I still need to work hard and try to be the best player I can be.” 

 

After closing out the first round with an eagle on the par-5 18th, Tavatanakit started bogey-bogey on Friday. She managed five birdies the rest of the way to find red numbers despite stumbling out of the gates. 

 

Tavatanakit’s mindset is one she will carry into the weekend to keep her in contention, as it did on more than that one occasion at Mission Hills Country Club earlier this year. 

 

“I was really calm out there. I didn't feel too insecure,” said Tavatanakit, who has four top-15 finishes in eight starts so far this season.

 

“Kind of was an acceptance that I'm not hitting it my best right now because I'm physically tired. I don't know where my swing is at. A whole lot going on. Just trying to score the best I can, and that basically has been my goal for the past two days. Just try to score, get up and down here and there and occasionally I'll hit one close and I'll be able to move up a couple of shots.”  

 

I hope she has a good final 2 rounds; she is certainly very much in contention. Thai lady golfers have been prominent on leaderboards on the LPGA tour this season. Long may it continue.

29 minutes ago, champers said:

I hope she has a good final 2 rounds; she is certainly very much in contention. Thai lady golfers have been prominent on leaderboards on the LPGA tour this season. Long may it continue.

Yes you are correct and Atthiya Thitikul is likely to do well on the Ladies European Tour this week in Sweden and for the rest of the year. I am sure she will soon be joining the LPGA tour and will be up there competing each week with Patty.