NAPLES, Fla. – Tom Kim said they were trying to decide what nickname they should give his partner at the Grant Thornton Invitational.
“We were deciding ‘Jeeno Scheffler’ or ‘Jeeno Woods,’ ” said Kim, “and we decided obviously with 82 wins and 14 majors, she played like Tiger Woods today.”
When Thitikul holed a bunker shot on the par-3 16th, Kim told her that he plays with Scheffler a lot and didn’t think the world No. 1 could pull that off.
Grant Thornton: Photos | Sunday tee times
Longtime friends Kim and Thitikul raced up the leaderboard with an 8-under 64 in the alternate shot format to get to 18 under for the tournament. They sit two shots back of Patty Tavatanakit and Jake Knapp heading into the final round. Jennifer Kupcho and Akshay Bhatia sit three shots back in solo third. Defending champions Lydia Ko and Jason Day trail by five.
Sunny skies turned grey at Tiburon Golf Club as rain pelted down mid-afternoon. Ko said it reminded her of the British Open, which is a good thing given that she won at St. Andrews earlier this year.
“We had everything from sun to like calmer conditions, wind and the rain, which is unusual for Florida, especially this time of the year,” said Korda. “I’ve been in Florida for 11 years and haven’t seen anything like this in December. But it’s testing us and testing us on the day that it’s most difficult just because of the format anyways.”
The format will change once again on Sunday for the 16-team field with a modified four-ball in place. Both players will tee off and then switch balls for their second shot and play that same ball until it’s holed. The lower score between the partners on each hole will count for the team.
While Tavatanakit and Knapp didn’t overlap in their time at UCLA, their similar roots helped develop team chemistry in Naples. The first-time Grant Thornton participants happen to be the only team in the field to have both won on their respective tours in 2024. Knapp, a rookie on the PGA Tour, won the Mexico Open while Tavatanakit won on home soil at the Honda LPGA Thailand.
“The first nine holes were just brutal with how much wind there was, rain, everything else,” said Knapp. “She did a great job of keeping me positive. I think we just did a good job of kind of following up bad shots with good shots and we were able to just grind it out.”
While most of the men in this field marvel at how straight their partners hit it, Tavatanakit, one of the longest players on the LPGA, kept telling Knapp to bomb it and not worry where it goes, she can hit it from anywhere.
“Because I’m the same way, my game is wild as well,” she said, “so don’t worry if it’s out of position, I know how to make pars.”
The winners of this week’s event earn $1 million or $500,000 each, one of the highest paydays on the LPGA outside of the majors. Thitifkul, of course, won $4 million at the CME Group Tour Championship last month at Tiburon with an eagle-birdie finish. She went to Disney World to celebrate.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: Grant Thornton: Tom Kim says Jeeno Thitikul played like Tiger
