The usual suspects fought back into contention Friday in the CME Group Tour Championship. After Nelly Korda, Jeeno Thitikul and Charley Hull combined to go even par Thursday at scorable Tiburon Golf Club, the trio nearly averaged 66 on Friday to move into the top 10 going into the weekend.

Hull got off to a slow start Thursday after her usual pre-tournament rhythm was thrown off with an extensive schedule when arriving in Naples, Fla. On Monday, she had testing with Taylormade and played nine holes. She played again on Tuesday and then was in the 18-hole pro-am on Wednesday. The Englishwoman usually plays 18 holes total during her practice rounds leading up to an event.

A needed reset after an opening one-over 73 had Hull in a tie for 50th place. She rested after her round, sleeping early enough to wake up at 5:30 a.m., three hours before her tee time to work out. Hull’s more energized Friday morning jump started her round with three straight birdies, as the 2016 Tour Championship winner rebounded with a 66.

“After three birdies you’re thinking, ‘oh, can I make 18 birdies there?’” Hull explained. “Then I parred the next hole. No, I made loads of birdies. Good confidence and played my way back into the tournament for the weekend.”

Cliff Hawkins

Korda was drained after the glitz and glam of the Rolex Awards dinner on Wednesday, where she was honored with her first Player of the Year award. She beamed in her post-round interview on Friday, explaining how happy room service can make her feel.

“Having the pro-am parties and then the Rolex dinner on top of that, I haven’t had any time to rest,” Korda explained. “Obviously super grateful for that and [CME Group chairman] Terry [Duffy] and everyone coming out here and supporting us. But it’s nice to kind of have a day where you can reset mentally. Had that. Ate dinner in bed. That was great.”

The World No. 1’s swing got out of sorts Thursday during her even-par first round, where she ended T-44. Her team recognized Korda was not properly hinging during her takeaway, resulting in off-center hits. Despite Korda winning the Annika tournament last week, she is still just returning to the LPGA after recovering from a neck injury that sidelined her for a month and a half. She only picked up a club for the first time just about three weeks ago, with her team putting her through a boot camp on Monday ahead of the Annika to get her into tournament form.

The quick swing adjustment gave Korda scoring chances on the first and second Friday morning, where she burned the edges for birdie. Her round took off on the third, where she holed out for eagle with a controlled 8-iron on the 387-yard par-4 third as the highlight of a bogey-free six-under 66.

“Thankfully I have a great group of people around me and found a simple feel to go into today,” Korda said. “Hopefully I can keep progressing with that.”

A third birdie for @NellyKorda moves her from T44 to T5 👀 pic.twitter.com/VdcLgWibFv

— LPGA (@LPGA) November 22, 2024

Thitikul, after a clean 67 Friday, was blunt in her assessment of how bad her game was in her first-round 71.

“Yesterday was brutal. I mean, I hit left, right, left, right, but today I hit it really good and then just back in what I normally play,” she said. “That’s why I make it better than yesterday.”

The CME is Thitikul’s first event since she was runner-up in the Maybank Championship in late October. Thitikul explained Friday that her iron play hasn’t been sharp recently, with sponsor obligations limiting her practice over the last month. She made the late decision to withdraw from the Annika event last week. It gave her one less competitive event to work out her iron play ahead of the season finale and sacrifice her chances of defending her Vare Trophy, given to the player with the lowest scoring average on tour.

As Thitikul contends for the $4 million first-place prize, Sunday could increase her week-long earnings to more than any entire season in tour history. She received a $1 million payday Thursday for winning the Aon Risk Reward Challenge. A Tour Championship victory for Thitikul would surpass Lorena Ochoa’s all-time money mark of $4,364,994 set in 2007.

This article was originally published on golfdigest.com