Pornanong trails Pettersen by three strokes at Inspiration

The 27-year-old played 10 holes in the morning to finish her opening round. She had four birdies and four bogeys for an even-par 72. She then fired five birdies against a bogey for a second round 68, which placed her tied 11th alongside world No 2 Ariya Jutanugarn.
“It was not as windy as it was on the first day, so it was easier to play golf. I began to hit my shots better and made several birdies. I had only 27 putts the whole day,” said Pornanong, who is looking for her third top-10 finish this year after making a solid start in Bahamas and Australia.
“The winds will play a major role during the weekends. The fairways are quite narrow and the ball rolls quite fast on the greens. I will go for my shots when I should and play defensive on the difficult holes,” the Chaiyaphum-born golfer said. Moriya Jutanugarn enjoyed the best position among the six Thais who are in the field, hitting a second round 70 for 139 to take joint eighth position. Asked about a possible grouping with younger sister Ariya in the final round, she joked: “Well, if we play the final round together, she will try to beat me and I will try harder to beat her.”
Suzann Pettersen held the early lead with a 7-under 137. She returned to the course at 9am to much calmer conditions and posted a 4-under-par 68 in the first round. She followed that in the afternoon with a 3-under par 69 to lead by one over Minjee Lee of Australia, Nelly Korda, Christie Kerr and Michelle Wie of the US, Park In-bee of South Korea and overnight leader Karine Icher of France.
 “I played really good. It really hasn’t been that long of a day, but I played quite a bit of golf. Just Steady Eddie, just plugging along, hitting good shots, giving myself chances,” Pettersen said.
Pettersen is a three-time runner in the first women’s major of the year.

Suzann Pettersen
“How can you not love this place? It’s heaven for golf and great surroundings,” she said. “Just really got to be on your A-game to feel like you can attack this course. I’m driving the ball well so I’m giving myself good irons into the greens.”
Park admitted she had been worried about how long it would take to shake off the rust after such a long break.
“But it didn’t take that long,” she said, although her renowned putting touch wasn’t much in evidence on Friday.
“Actually really a nightmare on the greens for me today,” she said. “I’m really happy the way I’m hitting the ball but just putting was very disappointing.
“But I had two rounds under par, which is good. and I had a tough day today – 27 holes and got it done, so happy with that.”