MAINEVILLE, Ohio — Lydia Ko set an early target and Jeeno Thitikul zoomed right past her Friday afternoon with three birdies over her last four holes for another 6-under 66 and a one-shot lead over Ko in the Kroger Queen City Championship.

Ko played bogey-free with an eagle on the par-5 eighth hole for a 66. Thitikul played in the afternoon, made birdie on all the par 5s at the TPC River’s Bend and finished strong.

Thitikul hit pitching wedge over the water and avoided going long, setting up one final birdie that put her at 12-under 132 going into the weekend.

Lydia Ko’s recent run comes after four straight top-10 finishes, including a win at the 2024 AIG Women’s Open at St. Andrews. Oh yeah, she also won the gold medal at the Paris Olympics.

“I obviously came off an amazing three-week stretch in Europe,” Ko said. “I wanted to make sure that I kind of came back to the ground and work on the basics and the things I’ve been working on the past few months. Winning at the British and playing well at the Scottish [T-9] and winning the gold in Paris, it wasn’t just the work I put in the week before. Every week it’s been incremental improvement. You hope to pull it off one week, and it happened to be two of the biggest weeks in my schedule this year.”

Her win at the Olympics secured the final points she needed for entry into the LPGA Hall of Fame. Her victory 15 days later in the Women’s Open, her third career major, was icing on the cake. Now she’s seeking her 22nd LPGA win and third this season.

“The golf course is getting firmer just because it is pretty warm out here. Being smart with the club selection off the tee and just knowing which ones I should be aggressive and which ones I should be a little bit more conservative,” she said. “I feel like I set myself a good plan going into the week so that’s what I’m going to stick to. I know there is still a lot of golf to be played so just focus on me and I think that’s the biggest thing that I’ve been doing well these past month or so. So just stick to that.”

Ko has good vibes from a summer she won’t soon forget. She won the gold medal at the Olympics, a victory that got her into the LPGA Hall of Fame. And then she won the Women’s British Open for the second time, this one at St. Andrews.

Ko is coming off a three-week break and hasn’t shown any signs of letting up. She’s also continued to show that she’s not afraid to go for it, as evidenced by her eagle on the par-5 8th hole.

Key to her round was her eagle on No. 8, and Ko appeared to be the least likely to do that. Zhang hit her second shot into short range. Charley Hull had 15 feet for eagle. Ko was off the green hopeful of getting up-and-down for birdie. Instead, she holed it.

“I kind of felt left out because Charley hit it to like 15 feet for eagle; Rose hit it to like two feet; and I had missed the green,” Ko said. “I hit it exactly the way that I was envisioning. As soon as it came off the club face and landed, Charley said, ‘Good shot.’ And five seconds later it went in the hole. I feel like those are an extra bonus.”

Lydia Ko’s rich vein of form is continuing on the LPGA Tour.

After a four-week break from golf, the Kiwi briefly led the Kroger Queen City Championship at TPC Rivers’ Bend with a six-under 66 to go to 11-under for the tournament.

A round that featured four birdies and an eagle saw Ko move from third into the lead for a couple of hours, while remaining bogey-free in her second round. Late finisher Jeeno Thitikul also carded a six-under 66 to take the solo lead heading into the weekend by one shot at 12-under.

Beginning the day at five-under, Ko made five successive pars to begin her round before a birdie on the par-five sixth hole kickstarted her scoring.

The Olympic and Women’s Open champion then took advantage of another par five on the eighth hole and did one better to make eagle.

Her back nine saw her make birdies on 13, 14 and 18 to close out another strong round as she chases a third win during this hot streak that started when she claimed gold in Paris.

The Hall of Fame inductee heads into the weekend with a great chance to continue that streak with another win.

Ko said following her round that she would try to channel the form and mindset of the last few months as she headed into the weekend’s play.

“Being smart with the club selection off the tee and just knowing which ones I should be aggressive and which ones I should be a little bit more conservative.

“But, yeah, just I feel like I set myself a good plan going into the week so that’s what I’m going to stick to. I know there is still a lot of golf to be played so just focus on me and I think that’s the biggest thing that I’ve been doing well these past month or so.

“So just stick to that.”

The two-day lead for Ko was quickly eclipsed by Thitikul, who birdied three of the final four holes to finish at 12-under, a one-stroke lead.

“Just looking forward for good golf and enjoyable golf out there,” Thitikul said. “I think a lot of good vibes coming from me, starting from like Olympics. ... I just want to play my game. Just want to control on my side, not others.”

Ko is coming off a three-week break and hasn’t shown any signs of letting up.

Haeran Ryu, who won the FM Championship three weeks ago for her first LPGA title, matched the low round of the day with a 65 and was two shots behind.

One of those low rounds belonged to Anna Nordqvist, who is among 11 players who were competing in the high-energy Solheim Cup last week. Also playing is Nelly Korda, the No. 1 player in women’s golf, who had a 70 and was five shots behind.

Rose Zhang, who went 4-0 last week, was the only Solheim Cup player to miss the cut. She made a late double bogey and never recovered, posting a 71 to miss the weekend by one shot.

Thitikul is coming up on the two-year anniversary of her last individual victory. She teamed with Ruoning Yin to the win the Dow Championship this year, and has given herself plenty of other chances.

Gaby Lopez and Maria Fassi, who represented Mexico in the Olympics, each shot 67 and were among those at 9-under 135. Nordqvist was in the group another shot behind.