Three players -Katherine Kirk, Lizette Salas, and Dori Carter - lead the way at 7-under, 64, following first-round play at the Meijer LPGA Classic presented by Kraft at Blythefield Country Club.
“Made some pretty good plus 20‑footers for birdie and just made basically zero mistakes today,” said Salas. “That eagle on 11 really kind of kept me going and really helped me target the pins today. Just really stayed aggressive with the putting and it’s really coming along. My finish at the Open kind of gave me that extra boost of confidence to really go low and that’s what I did today.”
Conditions in the morning proved to be ideal and helped the trio post a number and enjoy the rest of the day on the top of the leaderboard one shot clear of Wei Ling Hsu and Jaye Marie Green who each posted rounds of 65.
“We had perfect conditions this morning,” Kirk said. “Hardly any wind and then greens were very receptive early on. Obviously, in the morning you always get the good roll. “
While the trio is happy to be in the lead entering Friday, they know that there is still work to be done.
“You’ve got to start off well and it’s a confidence boost to get off on round one,” Carter said. “However, it’s still just Thursday and so you’ve got three more rounds, 54 more holes, and anything could happen. I wouldn’t go home and relax. I’m going to probably stay sharp and try to focus on tomorrow and try to keep building, keep climbing up the leaderboard.”
Kirk, a two-time LPGA winner, echoed Carter’s statements.
“I haven’t posted a round like that in a while so it feels good to finally get the rust off and yeah, shoot a low one. But it’s a long week and just got to back it up now.”
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