NAPLES, Fla. — First-round leaders Patty Tavatanakit and Jake Knapp showed no signs of slowing down on Saturday at Tiburón Golf Club, carding a nearly flawless 6-under 66 in the second round of the Grant Thornton Invitational.

Playing in the foursomes portion of the 54-hole competition, which is commonly referred to as alternate shot, Tavatanakit and Knapp got the party started immediately with a birdie on the par-5 1st hole to move to 15-under overall, nabbing another birdie on the par-4 3rd hole to climb to 16-under. Their first and only bogey of the day came on hole four, but the pair cleaned up their mistake with a birdie on the par-4 7th hole to get back to 16-under, grabbing one last front-nine birdie on the par-3 8th hole to turn at 17-under total.

The partners struck again with a birdie on 10, cooling down a bit after that with pars on their next five holes. Tavatanakit and Knapp then landed a one-two punch of birdies on 16 and 17 and parred 18 to post at 20-under overall and lead the mixed-gender team event for the second consecutive day.

“I put us into some bad places off the tee early on that front nine,” said Knapp. “It was nice having a partner that stuck behind me. The first nine holes were brutal with how much wind there was, rain, everything else. (Patty) did a great job of keeping me positive. I think we did a good job of following up bad shots with good shots, and we were able to grind it out.”

Tavatanakit and Knapp have been draining tons of putts over the past two days in Naples, Fla., and it’s their prowess on the greens that seems to have been the separator for the duo, who now have a great look at winning the Grant Thornton Invitational in their shared tournament debut.

“We were able to pick up a lot of good momentum yesterday, and I feel like whatever we're seeing, it's always like 90 percent matching, 99 percent, 95,” said Tavatanakit. “Speed and line has been really good, I feel like, the past few days. What we're seeing is very similar, and we're able to feed off of each other's really good putting.”

Knapp admits that he has been leaning on Florida resident Tavatanakit’s experience with Bermudagrass greens over the first couple of rounds. “She's from Florida, too, so she helps me out with seeing certain grain if I don't see it,” he said. “It's been nice to have somebody with a little more local knowledge.”

Partners Jeeno Thitikul and Tom Kim are in solo second and two shots back of the lead, currently sitting at 18-under total after carding a tournament record 8-under 64 in the foursomes format. The team, who Thitikul has named “Tom and Jerry” after the famous children’s cartoon, made just one bogey and nine birdies on Saturday at Tiburón Golf Club, one of which was a hole-out bunker shot on the par-3 16th hole at the Gold Course, what was easily the highlight of their round.

“I was like, ‘I've had enough’,” Kim said. “She's done so much the whole day, capping it off with a hole-out over there. We made a bad decision with the ball flight we chose to put her there.”

Thitikul then jumped in with a playful jab. “Not we. You,” she laughed.

Kim clarified. “I meant me and my caddie. Try to not take all the blame. It was a tricky spot, and I was expecting I had to make a little nice 10-footer coming back. When she made it, I told her as soon as she made it, I said, ‘I play with Scottie (Scheffler) a lot, and I don't think Scottie could do that.’ She played awesome today.”

Major champion Jennifer Kupcho and two-time PGA Tour winner Akshay Bhatia are alone in third at 17-under after posting a solid 4-under 68 in foursomes on day two at Tiburón Golf Club. They birdied three of their first four holes to quickly climb to 16-under, but Kupcho and Bhatia then bogeyed holes five and nine to drop back to 14-under.

They got the train back on the tracks on the closing nine at the Gold Course, picking up two birdies on 10 and 13 to move to 16-under once again and then grabbed one last birdie on the par-4 18th hole after Kupcho buried a lengthy birdie putt to finish at 17-under total, three shots back of 36-hole leaders Tavatanakit and Knapp.

“Alternate shot's definitely the hardest format,” Kupcho said. “I think just staying in it. What we shot today was a great score, they just played way better. But I think we held our own, and I think we're both excited. We're still in the tournament. Anything can happen tomorrow. I think we really dug in, and stayed in it and that will help us going into tomorrow.”

Defending champions Lydia Ko and Jason Day are in solo fourth at 15-under overall after finishing with a bogey-free, 5-under 67 on day two. Three teams sit in a tie for fifth, including Canadians Brooke Henderson and Corey Conners, France natives Celine Boutier and Matthieu Pavon and Americans Andrea Lee and Max Greyserman, the last of whom carded a 66 in Saturday foursomes.

Seven-time 2024 winner Nelly Korda and PGA Tour champion Daniel Berger are in a tie for 10th at 11-under, while fan favorites Lexi Thompson and Rickie Fowler are tied for 14th at 8-under overall.

Patty Tavatanakit, Jake Knapp Not Slowing Down at Grant Thornton Invitational

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