WEST CALDWELL, N.J. (AP) — Jeeno Thitikul held off every challenge Saturday at the Mizuho Americas Open and made nothing worse than par over her last 16 holes for a 2-under 70 and a two-shot lead as the Thai golfer goes after her first LPGA title of the year.
Thitikul started with a three-shot lead and it was gone quickly after a bogey on the second hole and a fast start by Hannah Green.
But Thitikul kept her cool and kept marching along on a Mountain Ridge course softened by spells of rain, but still difficult enough with its contoured greens to present problems.
Thitikul got up-and-down for par with a nifty pitch on the 18th to finish at 10-under 216, two shots over Celine Boutier of France, who had a 67.
“It’s a new day and I don’t know what’s going to happen, but just going to let golf be golf and then let myself be committed to golf and then just go by the flow with it and then just give myself a lot of chances,” Thitikul said. “Another opportunity under my belt that I have in the final round again.”
Hye-Jin Choi had a 66 and was three shots behind.
Green was only the first of the contenders who got within one shot of Thitikul with a four-hole stretch on the front nine that she played in 4 under, including an eagle on the par-5 eighth. But no one could surge ahead.
Ruoning Yin of China was within one shot playing the par-4 15th when she got in trouble off the tee and had a full short iron into for her fourth shot. She hit that to 5 feet and looked as though she might escape with a bogey. But she shockingly three-putted for triple bogey.
Yin answered with a birdie on the par-3 16th with its accessible front pin and had to settle for a 68, leaving her in a tie for fourth at at 6-under 210 along with Green and Allisen Corpuz, who has not won since the U.S. Women's Open at Pebble Beach in 2023. Corpuz shot 68.
“Just my brain, not working on this hole,” Yin said. “When I three-putted on 15 I was like ... I don’t know what I was thinking. I wasn’t angry. I just felt like I still have so many birdie chances coming up. ... I think my game is in a great spot and I think I starting to figure it out this course a little bit.”
Green dropped two shots on the back, including a bogey on the 18th, and she finished when the rain was at its strongest.
“I’m going to have to do exactly what I did on the front nine — put myself in good positions off the tee as well as on the greens,” Green said. “I felt like on the back nine I had a couple of opportunities to make a birdie but it was a downhill putt, so you just can’t be aggressive.”
Boutier played bogey-free after her opening hole, including a string of three birdies over four holes on the back nine to get within one shot.
“I feel like you have to be pretty smart and kind of like almost patient about it, because sometimes you’re tempted to go for things but it’s not always the smartest choice,” Boutier said.
Thitikul, so precise most of the cloudy day, got up-and-down from in front of the green on the par-5 17th for a birdie that gave her a two-shot cushion, and she protected it with a bold play over the cross bunkers from the rough on the 18th, and a super pitch up the false front to save par.
She lost her No. 1 ranking two weeks ago when Thitikul missed the cut at The Chevron Championship in search of her first major, and Nelly Korda won The Chevron and the following week in Mexico. Korda is not playing this week.
AP golf: https://apnews.com/hub/golf
Hye Jin Choi, of South Korea, reacts on the 18th green during the first round of the Mizuho Americas Open golf tournament, Thursday, May 7, 2026, in West Caldwell, N.J. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
BEIRUT (AP) — Three Israeli drone strikes on vehicles just south of Beirut on Saturday killed four people while a series of airstrikes on southern Lebanon killed at least 13, including a man and his 12-year-old daughter, state media and the Health Ministry said.
The three drone strikes south of Beirut marked another escalation since a ceasefire between Israel and Hezbollah went into effect on April 17. Both Israel and Hezbollah have continued their daily attacks despite the truce.
On Wednesday night, Israel’s air force carried out an airstrike on a southern suburb in which Israel said it killed a senior Hezbollah military official. It was the first strike near the capital since the ceasefire was reached.
Two of the strikes on Saturday took place on the highway linking Beirut with the southern port city of Sidon in which several people were wounded, while the third happened on a road leading to Lebanon’s Chouf region killing three, the state-run National News Agency said.
An Associated Press journalist at the scene saw a dead body on the highway in the town of Saadiyat.
The Health Ministry said an Israeli airstrike on the southern village of Saksakiyeh killed at least seven, including a child, and wounded 15. The ministry said this was an initial count.
The agency reported strikes in southern Lebanon, including one on the village of Bourj Rahhal that killed three and another in Maifadoun that killed one.
The Health Ministry, meanwhile, said three Israeli drone strikes killed a Syrian man who was riding a motorcycle with his 12-year-old daughter in the city of Nabatiyeh.
The ministry said that after the initial strike, the man and his daughter managed to move away from the site only to be attacked again by the drone instantly killing the man. The girl then moved about 100 meters (yards) away and was hit again by the drone after she had been already wounded. The girl later died in a hospital, NNA said.
“The Ministry of Public Health denounces this barbaric targeting and the deliberate violence against civilians and children in Lebanon,” the ministry said in its statement added that the strike marks an ongoing series “of grave violations of International Humanitarian Law.”
The Israeli military said Hezbollah fired explosive drones into Israel near the border with Lebanon adding that three soldiers were wounded, one of them seriously, in one of the attacks. It added that Hezbollah fired drones inside Lebanon as well in which one hit an Israeli vehicle without inflicting casualties.
Hezbollah claimed several attacks inside Lebanon as well as firing a drone at an Israeli military post in the northern town of Misgav Am.
The latest war between Israel and Hezbollah began on March 2, when Hezbollah fired rockets into northern Israel, two days after the United States and Israel launched a war on Hezbollah's main backer, Iran. Israel has since carried out hundreds of airstrikes and launched a ground invasion of southern Lebanon, capturing dozens of towns and villages along the border.
Later, Lebanon and Israel held their first direct talks in more than three decades. The two countries have formally been in a state of war since the founding of the state of Israel in 1948.
A new round of talks is scheduled to take place in Washington over two days starting Thursday.
A 10-day ceasefire declared in Washington went into effect on April 17. The ceasefire was later extended by three weeks.
In the Syrian capital of Damascus, Lebanon’s Prime Minister Nawaf Salam held talks Saturday with Syria’s interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa in which they discussed strengthening relations between the two neighbors and boosting security cooperation amid regional wars.
Speaking to reporters before heading back home, Salam said that Lebanon will not be used again to harm “our Arab brothers, on top of them Syria.” Salam was indirectly referring to Hezbollah’s involvement in Syria’s civil that broke out in 2011 by backing the five-decade Assad family rule that ended in December 2024.
Residents gather as others search through the rubble of houses damaged by an Israeli airstrike in the village of Saksakieh, southern Lebanon, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
Rescue workers search for survivors using heavy machinery in the rubble of houses damaged by an Israeli airstrike in the village of Saksakieh, south Lebanon, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Mohammed Zaatari)
ecurity forces and residents inspect and clear debris scattered across a road at the scene of an Israeli airstrike that hit a car in the coastal town of Saadiyat, south of Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
Security forces and emergency responders gather around a damaged vehicle at the scene of an Israeli airstrike that hit a car in the coastal town of Saadiyat, south of Beirut, Lebanon, Saturday, May 9, 2026. (AP Photo/Hassan Ammar)
