If you’d waddled into a local bookies ahead of this week’s Ricoh Women’s British Open and said, “I’ll have a tenner on Pornanong Phatlum, please”, your eye-brow raising request would probably have sparked an investigation by the Gambling Commission.
In seven previous appearances at the women’s major, the 28-year-old Thai had missed the cut in six of them. After two rounds over the rigorous Royal Lytham links this week, however, the 5’ 3” Phatlum is walking tall and leads by a shot on a 10-under tally thanks to a pair of successive 67s.
“Wow,” she gasped with a gleaming beam as she tried to put into words the reasons for her upsurge in fortunes. It was perhaps unsurprising that Phatlum was slightly bemused by her lofty position. This was a tale of the unexpected that Roald Dahl would have struggled to get past the publishers.
Bogey-free for 36-holes is a pretty extraordinary effort for a golfer who has multiple wins on the Ladies Asian Tour but has always found the quirks and absurdities of the links game something of an alien concept.
“Everything about it (links golf) is very tough,” added Phatlum, who is aiming to become the second Thai golfer to win on British soil in a week following Ariya Jutanugarn’s victory in the Ladies Scottish Open at Gullane last Sunday.
Whether she can keep it going for two more days is another matter. She’ll have to as there are plenty of contenders breathing down her neck.
Georgia Hall maintained her bogey-free week with polished 68 which left the Dorset youngster lurking just a shot off the pace on nine-under.
Going two rounds without leaking a shot is about as rare an event for Hall as it is for Phatlum to make a cut in a Women’s British Open. “Never,” replied the 22-year-old when asked if she’d ever had such a run before. “I’ve done it for one round then four or five holes of the next day but nothing like 36-holes.”
It’s no mean feat over a Lytham course which can mete out some serious punishment. Hall kept her focus and her poise on a drizzly day and it wasn’t until the par-3 ninth that she picked up her first shot of the day after plonking a tee-shot to within a couple of feet.
“I think with eight pars in a row on a normal golf course you might be a bit shaken by that, but on this golf course I was still very happy,” she said of that steady early stream of pars which certainly didn’t do her position any harm. “I told myself to stay patient and on No 9 I hit it to about two feet. That got me going.”
Having elevated her profile a year ago by finishing third in the Women’s Open and then revelling in her Solheim Cup debut a few weeks later, Hall continues to make impressive strides as she strives to become the new standard bearer for British women’s golf.
“The experiences from last year helped her hugely,” said her dad and caddie, Wayne. “It got her used to crowds and to the expectation of being in the spotlight. She’s learnt to accept that. People expect her to do well now on her past results but she is coping very well with it.”
Overnight leader Minjee Lee spilled three shots over her last three holes in a 70 to slip back to nine-under while Lydia Ko, the former world No 1, is back on the five-under mark.
One of the biggest roars of the day was reserved for the Scot, Catriona Matthew, who finished with a flourish as she hauled herself up onto the three-under mark with an eventful 70.
The 48-year-old, who won the Women’s Open the last time it was held at Lytham in 2009, chipped in for an eagle on the 15th and then roused the galleries on the 18th by holing her bunker shot from the side of the green.
“The bunker shot on the last was always going to be close but it was a bonus that it went in and it’s always nice when you raise a roar like that,” said European Solheim Cup captain Matthew, who has missed three of her last four cuts on the tour in a largely unfulfilling campaign which included an early exit from the Ladies Scottish Open in her own backyard of East Lothian.
“I’ve been struggling to make cuts this season but now I’ve achieved that, I can hopefully relax and keep moving upwards,” said the Scot on a day when Royal Troon was unveiled as the Women’s Open host for 2020.
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