JERSEY CITY – Jeeno Thitikul used a morning start time with favorable weather conditions to stake herself the lead after day one of the Mizuho Americas Open at Liberty National Golf Club in Jersey City.
Thitikul acknowledged the luck of her draw and the favorable weather conditions while she was on the course, saying that the minimal amount of wind on the course allowed her to be aggressive in attacking the holes.
That aggressiveness led Thitikul to a spotless scorecard and an 8-under-par 64. The Thai started her day with a trio of pars, but knocked in her first birdie of the day on the par-three fourth hole. Thitikul would follow that up with a birdie on five and eight, and close out the front nine with a par.
Thitikul continued her success on the back nine, immediately sinking two birdies in a row after making the turn. Thitikul next made birdie on 13. After that, she recorded three straight pars before finishing her day with consecutive birdies on 17 and 18.
“Yeah, I think my putter working well, better than Chevron week,” Thitikul said, acknowledging the struggles she had two weeks ago at The Chevron Championship, adding, “We’re here, hit it good, too, and also making the putts. Also, get a lucky draw on the morning because it’s not really windy had the morning.”
Behind Thitikul, Celine Boutier and Hye-Jin Choi finished in a tie for second with identical scores of -6 after one day of play.
Boutier played the back nine first. She recorded five straight pars before she dropped a stroke after tallying a bogey on 15. Boutier finally notched a birdie on 18 to start a string of five straight birdies, continuing to hole four. She would record two more birdies on holes six and seven to set her final score for day one.
With regards to her opening round at Liberty National, Boutier said, “Yeah, it was very nice to get a few birdies in and get a good round in. I feel like the conditions were pretty optimal this morning, calm and really receptive greens. So it was very nice to get a lot of birdie chances.”
Like Thitikul, Choi also had a spotless scorecard; however, unlike Thitikul, Choi recorded fewer birdies. Also starting from the tenth tee like Boutier, Choi started strong, birding her first hole. She then did not record a birdie until her sixth hole. After that, she parred her seventh hole, birdied her eighth, and closed out her front nine with a par. Choi started her back nine with a birdie before birding two of her last three holes for the day.
Given Friday’s weather forecast, both Boutier and Thitikul expressed the importance of getting in a good first round with Boutier saying, “With the weather coming in tomorrow you don’t know what you’re going to get, so it was nice to get a good first round in.”
McCrery Leads AJGA Tournament After First Round
On the junior side of the Mizuho Americas Open, Avery McCrery leads the American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) field after one round of play. McCrery finished the day with 40 points, three points ahead of Donina Zhou and Asterisk Talley.
New Jersey native, Aphrodite Deng, sits in a tie for 13th with 32 points.
The junior golfers are using a modified Stableford Scoring system that awards points based on where each golfer finishes to par on a hole.
The Mizuho Americas Open continues Friday with the first golfers teeing off at 7:15 a.m. For those wanting to catch some of the action, but not wishing to get wet, a portion of the day’s action can be caught live on the Golf Channel from noon to 2 p.m.
