Patty Tavatanakit maintains her lead at the ANA Inspiration

Patty Tavatanakit (YouTube)

Patty Tavatanakit of Bangkok, Thailand is still in the lead after the second round of the 2021 ANA Inspiration in Rancho Mirage, California. On Friday, Tavatanakit shot a score of three-under-par 69 and is now at -9 after 36 holes of the first major of the 2021 golf season. Tavatanakit had the first round lead after a six-under-par 66. 

A major reason why the 21-year-old phenom is in the lead is because of an eagle on the par-four 15th. There, Tavatanakit nailed a 115-yard approach shot to go from -5 to -7. She also birdied the second, fourth, and 16th holes, and bogeyed the seventh and 10th holes.

Four other golfers are in contention at this time. Shanshan Feng of China, the 2012 Women’s PGA Championship winner is one stroke back at -8. The fact that Feng is contention at the ANA Inspiration is newsworthy because this is her first tournament in 16 months because of coronavirus. For a major part during this time period, Feng never even picked up a golf club as she took a mental and physical break from golf. Feng’s only major title came on the opposite end of the United States from Pittsford, New York.

There is another Thai golfer in contention as Moriya Jutanugarn is only two strokes back at -7. The fact that there are two golfers from the Southeast Asian country is mighty significant.

Meanwhile, there are two golfers at -6 and tied for fourth place and three strokes back. They are England’s Charley Hull and Sweden’s Anna Nordqvist, who is a two-time major champion. Nordqvist won the 2009 Women’s PGA Championship from Havre de Grace, Maryland, and then the 2017 Evian Championship from France.

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