Brittany Lincicome has Solheim Cup on her mind
It’s been a bit of a quiet run for Brittany Lincicome in 2017 after starting off the season with a victory in the Bahamas, but Thursday in Ohio she was back firing at flags and gunning for a title, after an opening round 4-under-par 67 has her just three shots back of the lead.
Lincicome had one blemish on her card Thursday, a double-bogey on the par-4 12th, but was otherwise solid, with a string of four-straight birdies on the front nine, and an eagle on the par-5 18th.
She said her putting was the key to her early success.
“I made a lot of good putts. I hit it a lot closer today than I have been doing and I made putts, which was nice. I had four birdies and an eagle which is pretty spectacular,” explained Lincicome. “This golf course and I don’t normally get along, so I’m excited to be playing well. There are a lot of really narrow holes out there, so if I can keep it in play and keep it in the fairway, I think I can do pretty good over the weekend.”
Although Lincicome has notched three other top-15 finishes since her win in January, she hasn’t been able to crack the top 10 yet in 2017, other than that first-place result.
She hopes this week will be a sign of good play to come, especially as the Solheim Cup is right around the corner. She said she had a sushi dinner with some fellow Solheim Cup hopefuls and Wendy Ward, who advised that she wanted to get the team together as best as possible when they arrive in Des Moines, Iowa.
“I'm kind of right on the bubble, so I'm a little bit stressed, but it was nice to kind of have a good round (today),” said Lincicome. “Maybe Juli (Inkster) will see that I made some birdies today, and hopefully my clubs will do the talking and get me in.”
Aditi Ashok off to her best start of the season
Although Aditi Ashok has played most of her golf on the Ladies European Tour this year, she made a big splash on the big tour Thursday in Ohio, firing a 6-under-par 66 – her best LPGA Tour round of 2017 – to sit just two shots back of the lead.
She said her putting was the key to her success Thursday.
“I think I hit a lot of good putts, and I also hit good approaches on the correct sides of the hole, so I always had uphill putts. But you still need to putt well to make that many birdies, so I think I did that,” she said. “I still feel like I could have made a couple more, but bogey-free was the positive.”
Ashok said her opening round, where she was bogey free, will help her play more aggressively as the week goes on.
“Here you might play well the first day, but even if you're just a couple shots off, there's so many girls back at that score, so sometimes you're just thinking (and) you get defensive, at least I think I do sometimes, so to just post a really low number, you can keep being aggressive through the week,” she explained. “That's what I'm going to try and do.”
Sung Hyun Park continuing her major momentum
Sung Hyun Park hoisted one of the most coveted trophies in women’s golf last week at the U.S. Women’s Open, and now she’s in Ohio for more hardware.
The rookie, who has five top-5 finishes on the season so far after her victory a week ago, said the key to her round Thursday – where she shot 7-under-par 64 and sits just a shot back of the lead – was to keep herself mentally sharp and not get overwhelmed with her own success.
“It was a good start after the major championship winning, and first of all, I need to focus more on the Marathon Classic and want to keep my happiness behind me from now on,” she explained.
Park explained she’ll be working on tightening up her approach shots for the rest of the week, but was satisfied with the rest of her game at the Highland Meadows Golf Club. She said she’ll have to keep focused on the task at hand this week, and not reflect back too much at her major success from a week ago.
“Back in Korea, I did win a lot, but here, especially for the major, there was a lot of pressure. I was happy (with my win),” she said. “But currently I just want to focus on Marathon Classic, so it's not a big deal for me to put that beside.”
Gerina Piller credits her putting for her low round
Gerina Piller fired her lowest round of 2017 on Thursday to take the lead at the Marathon Classic, and she credited her putting for what carried her to the top of the leaderboard.
“Usually me and my caddie read every putt together, and sometimes I tend to fall too much in love with a line or speed, so at the beginning of the day on the first green, he's like, ‘do you want to just read them and call me in when you need me,’ so I kind of felt my feet and kind of did it by feel and not so much being so mechanical with my reads and putting,” she explained. “To get a lot of putts to fall, especially the downhillers, you can get some pretty tricky putts out here with the slopes and all. I'm really pleased with my putting.”
She also said the golf course was looking spectacular.
“The course is in phenomenal shape,” she stated. “The greens are firm, and they're rolling as pure as I've ever seen them. There's going to be some low scores out here, and you can tell already the scoreboard is pretty bunched up. To get out there and get a good number, I think it's huge going into tomorrow and hopefully it can carry into the weekend.”
Piller admitted although she is off to a hot and quick start, she still has much work to do yet before she finds the winner’s circle for the first time on the LPGA Tour.
“You know what, tomorrow is a different day, and I'll just kind of do the same thing as I did today, go out there and take one shot at a time, as cliché as it sounds, but you're not going to win it on Thursday, Friday or Saturday, so it's going to take all four rounds,” she said.
Nelly Korda continuing strong rookie ride
Although Nelly Korda is a rookie this year on the LPGA Tour, she’s been showing poise usually reserved for more veteran players, including her sister Jessica.
The younger Korda got off to a fine start Thursday at the Marathon Classic presented by Owens Corning and O-I, firing a 3-under-par 68 with just one bogey. She admitted Thursday her putter wasn’t working well, but she notched a birdie on the par-5 18th to finish strong.
“Anything under par is good,” she said of her opening round. “It’s the first day so there’s still a lot more golf to be played.”
Korda’s best finish of 2017 was at the first event of the year, the Pure Silk Bahamas LPGA Classic. She’s since backed that up with three other top-20 finishes and has only missed two cuts all season long.
She said Thursday that with her solid run of good golf continuing, she hopes to one day represent the U.S. at the Solheim Cup.
“It would be a huge honor to represent my country and it’s definitely a goal of mine one day,” she stated. “But I just want to play solid golf and everything will solve itself.”
)
)
)
)
