Bad Weather Looms at Mizuho, But Jeeno Thitikul Remains Unfazed

WEST CALDWELL, N.J. — As winds howled for much of Friday's second round at Mountain Ridge, few players (20 to be exact) found themselves in the red figures after the second round of the Mizuho Americas Open.

Thursday afternoon’s low scoring came as a bit of a surprise given just how tricky some of the pins were set up and with how firm the greens were playing. But today was a different story, as players were on the defense against the gusty conditions.

Lydia Ko backed up her opening round of 67 with a 3-over par 75, and felt like today was playing like a British Open, with a U.S. Open set up.

"The wind was picking up but I did think we got pretty lucky in the first half of our round. It was meant to be a little bit breezier today than yesterday. For at least the front nine it was pretty calm," Ko said after her round today.

"You get some and you lose some, but it's a course where the holes can play completely different. I hit 5-wood into the green on 11 in my practice round and gap wedge yesterday...when it [the wind] does pick up like this, I think putting actually becomes one of the hardest parts because the ball is oscillating and you're trying to stay calm and not move all around the place. You just have to be patient. It's almost like a British Open, but at a U.S. Open setup."

Tournament host, Michelle Wie West shot 82-80 in her first competitive return since the 2023 U.S. Women's Open.

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The second round clubhouse leaders were Celine Boutier and Arpichaya Yubol, the only two players to post rounds of 68. They're sitting at T-4 and T-6, respectively. Though it was World No. 2 Jeeno Thitikul who really shined on Friday, building a three-shot lead heading into the weekend.

Thitikul is coming off of her first missed cut of the season at the Chevron Championship, and has noted recent iron struggles, but over the course of the week at Mountain Ridge, she's been nearly flawless with her approach shots hitting 32 out of 36 greens.

After her round she joked not to jinx her iron play, saying "Don't say my iron is good, please. (Laughing.) I always like to call my coach every single day, from March until now. I have things feeling-wise, technique-wise that I think could be improve, but, I mean, I think it's just golf and I'm less overthinking about it maybe."

Thitikul won three times in 2025, with Mizuho being her first. And though the course may be different, she's picking up right where she left off.

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As for the rest of the weekend, tee times and broadcast times are being moved up due to incoming weather. Live coverage of the third round will be from 12:30 p.m. to 3:30 p.m. on CNBC and Golf Channel Digital.

Tee times are scheduled to go off between 7:30 a.m. and 9:40 a.m. off Nos. 1 and 10 in groups of three.

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