Wichanee Meechai doesn't think she's confident. He leads the US Open anyway.
Jack Hirsh/GOLF
LANCASTER, Pa. – Saturday could have gone very differently for Wichanee Meechai.
That's how golf is. You miss a putt here, get a bad bounce there. Anyone who has played golf knows how quickly bad luck can turn an 89 into a 94, a 79 into an 84, a 69 into a 74.
The latter is what could have happened to Mekhai and perhaps what was expected. He almost agreed with that. The 31-year-old from Thailand is in the midst of her ninth LPGA season, but she may not have been a name even the most ardent women's golf fans were familiar with before this week. He had never finished better than T5 on the LPGA Tour and hadn't won anywhere in the world since 2015.
If Meechai had disappeared from Saturday's contention, the victim of a layoff at Lancaster Country Club after burning through the first two days with rounds of 69 and 67 to take the lead, no one would have looked.
But instead, she struggled and will enter the final round of the US Women's Open tied for the lead with Minjee Lee and Andrea Lee at five under.
It was not good at times – there was a one-handed finish and a long look for par – but by making five putts from outside four meters, he literally turned 74 into 69.
It sounds like a very confident player, but that is not Wichanee Meechai, at least according to Wichanee Meechai.
“I'm a person who has no confidence at all,” he said at a press conference Friday afternoon. “I never thought I was good enough. I never thought I could win championships in the LPGA, but … if I can stay in my place and continue to work as hard as I can … I think it will show up one day.”
Clearly, the hard work showed this week as Meechai and Minjee Lee were the only two golfers in the field to break 70 every day this week.
But even after posting a 69 that gave him a share of the lead going into Sunday's major, he doubled down on what he thought was his lack of confidence.
“To be honest, yesterday I thought about missing the ax because I have been in this position,” said Meechai. “Like the first day I played very well, and on the second day I just played [shoot] like the 80s and missed one cut. I cried a lot. I never thought I would be on the leaderboard or anything like that. But it's good.”
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However, on Saturday, a confident and strong player strolled through Lancaster Country Club.
He bogeyed the first hole, holed the putt from 22 feet right in the middle of the cup at a perfect pace, not even touching the back of the hole. After five straight pars, he hit it to the heart of the green on the par-5 7th for two and was two-putted to reach six under for the tournament.
Then the round could go away from him. He hit it long on the 10th green and made bogey. He did the same on the difficult par-3 12th, leaving his second shot just short of the green 10 feet, over the hole.
As his playing partner, Andrea Lee, stroked his birdie putt, Meechai stood in the middle of the green and watched, away from the hole, away from the water guarding the green, away from the hundreds of fans who had flocked to watch the final pairing on the US Open's travel day.
He was alone.
Jack Hirsh/GOLF
At that time, he found his focus.
“I feel like, okay, it's going to go down a lot, and you give it a break and put it in,” Meechai said. “Just focus on it, and I'll make it.”
His focus ended up being what motivated him to play his last six holes in par and maintain his position at the top of the leaderboard.
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“I think my focus on the game was very good today,” he said. “I hit a lot of bad shots, but, you know, like I don't have any bad thoughts about my swing or the score at all. I just sit in my place and try to continue and be patient.”
His patience was tested all day Saturday, especially when his team was put on the clock after the 12th hole, but he responded each time he had to.
He jailed her on the 4th and 16th, but came back with the magic recovery gun both times. That required confidence.
He raced to 13th place when his team was put on the clock. He looked confident.
He answered a bogey on 14 with a tee shot and dropped an arrow to close on 15 for birdie. It was a stroke.
Meechai may not think he's confident, but it's hard to lead the US Open when you're not. If she can become the first qualifier since Birdie Kim in 2005 to win the US Women's Open, she likely won't lack confidence for long.
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