Two rounds, 47 putts, one bogey
Arpichaya Yubol took 24 putts on Friday at Columbia Edgewater Country Club. She had taken 23 the day before. Forty-seven putts across 36 holes is the kind of number that wins golf tournaments, and it has carried the 24-year-old Thai player to a one-shot lead at the Standard Portland Classic in Oregon.
Her second straight 6-under-par 66 put her at 12-under 132. Seven birdies on Friday, three of them consecutively from the fifth to the seventh, and a single blemish at the par-4 18th. Across two days she has dropped exactly one shot.
“Pretty good day for my putter,” Yubol said. “For me, 36 holes with just one bogey is amazing. You can make birdie, bogey or even like double, but just how to manage your thinking, just keep positive thinking, you still have two more days.”
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A crowded board behind her
Sophia Schubert and compatriot Pajaree Anannarukarn sit one back after matching 66s, alongside South Korea’s Hye-Jin Choi, who signed for a 67. Anannarukarn’s card mirrored the leader’s almost exactly: seven birdies, one bogey, hers arriving at the par-4 17th. Schubert answered her only dropped shot at the par-3 13th by birdieing the next three holes. Choi went birdie-birdie-eagle from the fifth through the seventh in a bogey-free round.
A group of seven shares fifth at 9 under, headed by Rose Zhang, whose 65 was the low round of the day. Japan’s Erika Hara, Switzerland’s Morgane Metraux, Jeeno Thitikul, Haeran Ryu, Nataliya Guseva and Australia’s Grace Kim complete it.
The prize on offer
Yubol has never won on the LPGA Tour. She came close twice this season, finishing runner-up at the Riviera Maya Open at Mayakoba in April and again at the ShopRite LPGA in May. Friday’s round was her 10th made cut in 15 starts this year, a rate that has kept her competitive without ever delivering the trophy.
Thursday’s leader has already fallen away. Mariel Galdiano, ranked No. 383 in the world, opened with a 65 and followed it with a 71, dropping to a tie for 12th at 8 under. Colombian amateur Maria Jose Marin went from a share of second to missing the cut, her 75 leaving her at 3-under 141 with 13 others who fell a single stroke short.
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