Patty pushes ANA Inspiration lead to five strokes

LOS ANGELES – Thailand’s Patty Tavatanakit is poised to make her first LPGA title a major triumph after firing a five-under par 67 Saturday for a five-shot lead at the ANA Inspiration.

The 21-year-old had seven birdies in her 67 at Mission Hills in Rancho Mirage, California, showing no sign of nerves as she built ruthlessly on her one-shot overnight lead. She was three strokes in front of defending champion Lee Mi-rim of South Korea and American Ally Ewing. Ewing climbed the leaderboard with a bogey-free six-under par 66 while Lee, who won the rescheduled 2020 edition last September, signed for a 68.

Chinese veteran Feng Shanshan, playing her first LPGA event in more than a year, carded an even par 72 for sole possession of third place on eight-under 208. Former world number one Park In-bee of South Korea (70) and England’s Charley Hull (71) shared fourth on 209. Reigning world No. 1 Ko Jin-young of South Korea and former number one Lydia Ko of New Zealand were in a group on 210, along with Mexico’s Gaby Lopez and Thailand’s Moriya Jutanugarn.

Patty said she would be focusing on how to improve on Sunday, not on her chance at a major title or the big names chasing her. “You know, today I’m going to leave it behind,” she said of an impressive round that she opened with three straight birdies.

Patty rolled in a long birdie putt at the ninth to make the turn four-under for the day and drained another birdie bomb at 11 to push her lead to five shots for the first time. She followed a bogey at the 12th with a four-foot birdie at 13 and made another long birdie putt at 15 to push her lead to six before giving a stroke back at 17 — where she was unable to get up and down for par from a greenside bunker.

“It’s a great day, acknowledged it, and it’s in the past now,” Patty said. “All I can think about is what can I do tomorrow, what can I improve from today’s round? “I was getting a little tired at the end. What can I do to keep my energy level up throughout the day tomorrow? That’s going to be my goal. “And just stay calm out there,” she said. “I feel like I did that pretty well. Whatever the outcome is I’ll be really happy. It’s been a good week so far.”