Cognizant Founders Cup: Atthaya Thitikul could be poised to disrupt the leaders

Young sensation Atthaya Thitikul is currently tied among a pack of contenders in third on day one of the Cognizant Founders Cup, while Nelly Korda is hanging back at even par, looking to improve.

Atthaya Thitikul came to Clifton, New Jersey riding the success of her Thai team’s victory at the Hanwha LIFEPLUS International Crown just last week. At just age 20, the Thai golfer already got to world No. 1 last year and has two LPGA titles in addition to four on the Ladies European Tour (LET). She’s already clocked in three top-four finishes at majors. It really is not a matter of if, but when the golfing sensation will achieve her first major.

Although she began with a bogey on the first hole on Thursday at the Cognizant Founders Cup, Thitikul quickly readjusted and fired off two birdies on the fourth and fifth holes, with another three on the back nine — and an especially deft touch on the 18th — to finish with a 68 for the day.

Atthaya Thitikul is making a name for herself at the Cognizant Founders Cup

Thitikul currently sits in a nine-way tie for third place. Among the impressive names include Cheyenne Knight, Canada’s Maddie Szeryk, Peiyun Chien, Hye-Jin Choi, USA’s Stacy Lewis, defending champion Minjee Lee, Nasa Hataoka and Jin Young Ko.

“Little tough to focus my game because physically a little bit tired,” said Jin Young Ko, according to the Golf Channel. “Just less practice before the tee off and less putting, and just eat little more and sleep little more. Just save my energy before the tee off,” was how she planned to approach Day 2.

With a bogey-free Thursday and six birdies for a 66, Sei Young Kim found herself in the lead with a 6-under at the Upper Montclair Country Club.

“Learned a lot from the last year, because this week really need the good tee shot,” Kim said. “If you’re good tee shot you had a good advantages on par 5.”

South Korean Hae Ran Ryu put in a more turbulent day with three bogeys but managed to save her score with eight birdies to end up 5-under on the first day.

“At the very first [event] I have really low confidence and I’m always draw a question mark myself, [if] I can do my best or I can do it well,” said Ryu, after her first round. “But after the tournament and after the rounds I’m getting more confidence at the tour, and from now, I’m really doing well I think.”

However, neither golfer can sit comfortably just one or two shots above a tightly packed top-three field, especially with hungry contenders such as Knight, an on-fire Thitikul and Minjee Lee, who won the tournament last year. Expect the nine ladies in third to wreak havoc on the leaderboard heading into the weekend.

One name missing from the top tier is world No. 2 Nelly Korda, who ended up even-par on Thursday. The reigning golf gold medalist traded bogeys for birdies with three each and a finishing score of 72. She’ll be looking to improve her chances heading into the weekend rounds.

She’s got an ace up her sleeve, however, in the form of Tiger Woods’ caddie, Joe LaCava, who is on the bag while Korda plays Cognizant.

"“My agent, Chris Mullhaupt, is good friends with Tiger’s manager and I got connected that way,” Korda said after playing the first round, via the Golf Channel. “Through that, I got Tiger’s blessing, and this was a couple months ago, and now I have Joe on the bag for the rest of this week, which is a huge honor, obviously.“I thought since my caddie [Jason McDede] was out [on paternity leave] for this week, I could learn something from one of the greatest caddies and I’m just grateful that he said yes.”"

“[The first round] was fun,” LaCava said. “A lot of Giants fans, so I’m always comfortable around them. Old school kind of golf course in Jersey, so I like that.”

The second round of the Cognizant Founders Cup gets underway on Friday with live coverage starting at 10:30 am on the Golf Channel and streaming on Peacock and the NBC Sports app.