Patty Tavatanakit cracked her driver mid-way through her first round on Thursday, and wasn’t expecting a replacement until mid-morning on Friday. One problem: She was teeing off at 8:43 a.m. A family friend back in Orlando, where Tavatanakit lives, actually drove her former gamer up to Atlanta late Thursday, and handed it to her as she started to warm up at 6 a.m. on Friday.
This driver was weighted differently than the one she’d been using, and after a good opening tee shot to start her day, she said the replacement did a sufficient, if not great, job. Tavatanakit ended up shooting 71, and is at 3-under 141 through two rounds.
“The sound was different, so I was like, OK, I'm making good swings,” said Tavatanakit, who won her first major, the ANA Inspiration, earlier this seasson. “I can hit anything. I was out there trying to ignore the fact that it's not really working, and just finesse something. I feel like I did a good job at that.”
After the round, she was off to hit the replacement driver that was shipped on Friday, with the same specs as the one with which she began the tournament. Tavatanakit, who is a long hitter, said she’d never cracked a driver head before. But from this point on, it’s a safe bet she will carry an extra head in her gear when she travels.
