LANCASTER, Pa. – Wichanee Meechai became the latest surprise in a U.S. Women’s Open full of them. She started Friday with four straight birdies and matched the lowest score of the week with a 3-under 67 for a two-stroke lead heading into a weekend that won’t include Nelly Korda.
Meechai is a 31-year-old Thai whose only victory recognized by the women’s world rankings was nine years ago in the LPGA in Taiwan. He had never finished in the top 10 of hers in her previous 20 appearances in the majors.
She went from five shots ahead of Andrea Lee to two shots behind in a five-hole span. Meechai steadied himself with two birdies over the final six holes to finish at 4-under 136, two strokes ahead of Lee with only two other players under par.
A pair of former Women’s Open champions, Minjee Lee (69) and Yuka Saso (71), were three shots behind at Lancaster Country Club.
“I feel like maybe I’m not making a lot of birdies on the easier courses. “I’m not that person,” Meechai said when trying to explain his 36-hole lead in a major. “I like it when you need to think hard, when you need to make it shorter and be patient.”
That worked perfectly on his first four holes, all birdie putts inside 6 feet.
“I just picked the club that’s shorter and hit it hard,” he said.
The week started with a surprise announcement from Lexi Thompson that she will be retiring from a full schedule at the end of the year. Her 18th and probably last US Women’s Open. finished early with rounds of 78-75.
It will end with Korda returning home to Florida, missing the cut for the first time in almost a year.
Nelly Korda lets the 12th hole know how she feels about missing the US Women’s Open cut.
Nelly Korda couldn’t beat her Thursday 10th on the 12th hole of Round 1.
Korda got some revenge on the par-3 12th, where he hit the water three times Thursday and shot the worst 10 of his career on his way to an 80. This time the flag was behind him, not ahead. , and she came up so short with a thick 8-iron that he seemed certain his golf ball would return to the water.
It was supported by a piece of grass. He made a pitch to 20 feet and holed the par putt, smiled and offered a playful insult on the green.
“I wanted to make a birdie to get revenge for that hole, but par will do,” he said.
He should have saved those words for his golf. Korda, who came into the Women’s Open having won six of her last seven tournaments, made three consecutive birdies toward the end of the front nine to put herself within reach of the cut.
But he didn’t hit the ball well off the tee or the fairway when he had the chance. He only had four birdie attempts on the back nine, shooting 70 and missing the cut by two.
“When I made those three birdies in a row, I wanted to make the cut,” Korda said. “I knew I was running circles around him and I just couldn’t do anything in the back.”
Also missing the cut were Rose Zhang, Lydia Ko, Brooke Henderson and defending Women’s Open champion Allisen Corpuz.
Among those who stayed was Asterisk Talley, 15 years old (her first name is Greek for “little star”), who had 15 pars in her round of 71 and was in a group of 1-over 141 that included American Women’s Amateur champion Megan Schofill.
Lee performed an even more impressive stretch than Meechai, his coming halfway through the round. The Stanford student was against the ropes and in a bunker on the 1st hole, her 10th hole of the round, when her shot rolled true to a back pin and fell for eagle.
Lee followed with three straight birdies and was suddenly two ahead of Meechai in the group behind her. Lee three-putted from 30 feet to make bogey on the fifth hole and was unable to save par from a bunker on the par-3 eighth.
He will be in the last group on Saturday, with Minjee Lee and Saso ahead and with much more experience to face such a tough test.
Minjee Lee, whose two majors include a Women’s Open at Pine Needles two years ago, made consecutive bogeys at the turn and then played error-free the rest of the way. Saso, the Women’s Open champion at the Olympic Club in 2021, recovered from a difficult start by playing bogey-free in her final 12 holes.
Most tellingly, Saso was asked to describe his best shot and Lee asked him which one he would like to recover. They both had to turn towards a scoring terminal displaying their scorecards, needing to refresh their memories about the rounds they had just completed.
That’s the kind of golf a Women’s Open can produce, particularly on a traditional course like Lancaster. It’s about putting in the work, getting to the next hole and not doing anything to ruin a round.
And then there’s Meechai, delightfully self-deprecating about how she approaches this test.
“I’m the person who doesn’t have any confidence,” he said. “I think about missing the cut because I know I can shoot like 1 under par and the next day 8 up. It’s very easy for me. Trying not to think about it is the hardest part for me and that’s why I’m so nervous.”
Two other amateurs were among the 75 players who made the cut at 8-over 148. One of them was France’s Adela Cernousek, a Texas A&M junior who won the NCAA title two weeks ago. He opened with a 69 and was on the verge of shooting 80 and missing the cut until his chip hit the pin on his final hole and he was 2 feet away for par instead of rolling from the front of the green into the fairway. .
