Ricoh Women's British Open Championship

Phatlum is in the pink - leads by one shot at Royal Lytham

LYTHAM ST ANNE'S – Pornanong Phatlum of Thailand is standing out at the Ricoh Women's British Open for more than just her pink golf ball.

The world 97th-ranked player has yet to drop a shot in two straight rounds of 5-under 67 that will give her a one-stroke lead heading into the weekend at the year's fourth major.

While first-round leader Minjee Lee and Mamiko Higa encountered problems down the stretch at a rainy Royal Lytham to give up two-shot leads on Friday, Phatlum played a steady hand and put her pink ball in all the right places – explicitly, out of the many bunkers that define the course.

The 28-year-old Thai missed a 10-foot putt for birdie in front of the clubhouse on the 18th green but that didn't get her down. She was 10 under par overall.

''I've had a game plan,'' Phatlum said. ''I try to plan every shot, every hole.''

Corks were popping in the back of the media centre Friday at the Ricoh Women’s British Open.

After making a hole-in-one, Brooke Henderson sent the case of Prosecco Italian sparkling wine she won to the media.

Henderson, who is proud of her Scottish ancestry, holed a 9-iron from 141 yards at the par-3 ninth hole.

It was Henderson’s sixth hole-in-one, her second in a major championship. Notably, after she made an ace in the first round of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship two years ago, she went on and won. She also won a car with that ace, a Kia 900 she gave to her sister/caddie, Brittany.

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Full-field scores from the Ricoh Women’s British Open

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Henderson’s hole-in-one  helped her post a 3-under-par 69, moving her into a tie for eighth, five shots off the lead. She one-hopped the ace into the hole.

“I'm definitely very happy about it,” Henderson said. “To get one there and get my score back to reasonable, and close to the top of the leaderboard, was really cool. Kind of struggled a little bit on the back nine, but birdied 15, and I'm really happy with my round today.”

Henderson, 20, has a victory among her eight top-10 finishes in majors, but none of them at the Women’s British Open.

“I haven't played that well at British Opens before," she said, "so I'm happy about this."

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