Lalita Patipaksiri 2nd Early In First Round Of LPGA “Q” School With A 67

Lalita Patipaksiri, a recent graduate of the University of California, Irvine (UCI) fired a -5 under par 67 to tie for second place early in the LPGA Qualifying School-Stage I. Rachel Rohanna an amateur is leading with a 65 on the Legends Course at LPGA International. Stage I is being contested on the Champion’s (6370 yd) and the Legend (6400 yd). 240 women are competing to make the cut (low 70 and tie’s) after the second round on Wednesday.

Lalita, in a telephone conversation with her coach, George Pinnell, said that she was extremely nervous throughout the round. Lalita told Pinnell, “I started off by being +2 after five hole’s and then I was able to bear down and get my emotion’s under control. I made three birdie’s to get back to -1 under and then I made eagle from 70 yd on a par five. That got me to -3 and from there on I was able to finish my back nine with a -5, 32.”

Lalita is a little concerned with the wet condition’s because it makes the course longer because of the lack of “run out” on the tee shot. She told Pinnell, “the Champions course drains better than the Legends, so I am a little concerned about the wetter conditions tomorrow and it is raining now.”

Pinnell told her, “to go through your normal routine that you have for the past 10 years and you will be fine. Today is in the history book, so now you have to concentrate on tomorrows round like you did yesterday for today’s round. Play tomorrow, like today never happened.”

Lalita has worked with Pinnell at the George Pinnell Golf Academy for nearly 12 year’s. Scoring can be found at www.lpga.com.

The 21 year old from Cypress, CA, had a stellar junior career and a solid collegiate career before turning professional earlier this summer, according to Pinnell.

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