Leona Maguire looked back to her best when carding an opening five-under round of 67 to take a place inside the top five at the LPGA Thailand at Siam Country Club, but a level-par 72 in round two saw her fall down the leaderboard as 51 of the 72 competitors broke par and there were 15 rounds of 65 or lower.
Maguire hit 13 of 14 fairways in round one, found the green in regulation on 14 of the 18 holes, and took just 27 putts on her way to that 67, but missed an additional two fairways in round two, an additional two greens, and took three putts more.
She still made four birdies – these coming on the par-4 third, 11th and 15th holes, and on the par-5 seventh, but it was a case of one step forward, one step back as she made bogey on four, nine, 10 and 16, eventually ending the day in a share of 33rd place and 12 shots off the lead.
That’s held by Korean Somi Lee who came into round two one shot off the pace after shooting a 66 in round one and blitzed the opening nine on day two, making seven birdies in her first nine holes to take firm command.
Two more birdies started the back nine, taking her to nine-under through 11 and when she eagled the par-4 15th, she needed to pick up two more in the final three holes to become just the second player ever to break 60 on the LPGA Tour after Annika Sorenstam made history back in 2001.
Unfortunately for Lee, she closed out with three pars, but the 61 took her to -17 and gave her a three-stroke advantage over world number one Jeeno Thitikul who made seven birdies and an eagle on her way to a 63 having started the day tied with Maguire at -5.
“I had the best score of my life today so I’m a little emotional,” Lee said afterwards. “But since the competition is not over and there is still two more days left, I just want to celebrate this a little bit.”
Thitikul, who won three times in 2025 and reclaimed the world number one ranking after unseating Nelly Korda, was celebrating her 23rd birthday and was serenaded with ‘Happy Birthday’ wishes each time she made a birdie.
“Obviously nice to have a lot of birdies today, which is hear a lot of happy birthday. The most time in my life,” she laughed.
“But obviously it’s just really good memories that I have created with them on my birthday on the golf course again.”
Lydia Ko and Japan’s Chizzy Iwai are a shot further back in a share of third place, with Hannah Green, Julia Lopez Ramirez, and Allisen Corpuz rounding out the top five.
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