It could have been a flow state, or a bit of luck, but whatever it was or wasn’t, LPGA Tour rookie Suvichaya Vinijchaitham was in a groove on Friday at the FM Championship. That’s where the 20-year old from Thailand rattled off five consecutive birdies to begin her day en route to posting a seven-under par, 65. The hot round came after she carded a 73 on Thursday in which she began her week with a double-bogey.

“I just made putts. That's it. Hit fairway, greens, and made putts,” Vinijchaitham said about the difference to her round on Friday in which she needed only 27 putts. “I would say like it was kind of lucky a little bit. Like it was not like short putts. There were some long putts, too.”

There were quite a few long putts, in fact. Following back-to-back birdies to begin her day, the rookie rolled in a 10-footer for a third consecutive birdie at the par three, third hole. Then, at the par four, fourth hole it was a 30-footer that found the bottom of the cup for her fourth consecutive birdie of the day. And she capped off the magical run with a 15-footer, which she stood up over quite quickly, not sure she had made it before seeing it drop into the bottom of the cup. Vinijchaitham smiled as she rolled in her fifth birdie of the day and added one more before making the turn, at the par three, eighth hole, to go out in 30.

“I just made more putts. That's it,” said Vinijchaitha, making her success sound so simple. “It's kind of like flow state.”

Vinijchaitham kept it flowing on the back side and made back-to-back birdies at the 13th and 14th holes for her seventh and eighth birdies of the day. Her solid ball striking set her up for additional opportunities at the 15th ,16th, and 17th holes where she failed to convert and instead settled for pars.

Vinijchaitham’s lone mistake of the day came at the par five 18th hole where her tee shot found the left rough. She hit a fairway wood from the tall grass, but she was barely able to lift the ball off the ground and it advanced only 20 yards into the rough. She minimized the error by making just a six on the hole for a closing bogey to shoot 65 to match her lowest round on the LPGA Tour.

“I just made more putts. That's it,” said Vinijchaitham, who is currently ranked 106th on Tour in putting. “Like putting has always been like not my strength I would say. I'm working on it. I've been working on it. I would say it's getting better and better.

The rookie is well-positioned heading into the weekend at the FM Championship, vaulting from a tie for 60th into contention through 36-holes. Over the next two days, Vinijchaitham will be looking to chase down her second top 10 of the season after finishing tied for eighth at The Standard Portland Classic two weeks ago which she followed with a tie for 37th on Sunday at the CPKC Women’s Open. The solid performances came after Vinijchaitham missed eight cuts earlier this season on the LPGA Tour.

“I know that I don't have to be a great putter,” said about her mindset heading into the weekend. “But, I just need to be a good putter.”

Rookie Suvichaya Opens With Five Straight Birdies, Shoots 65 to Vault Up Leaderboard

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