ROCHESTER, New York, July 21, 2017 - The first-round of the Danielle Downey Credit Union Classic resumed on Friday at 7:30 a.m. at Brook-Lea Country Club. A total of 24 groups and 72 players finished their first 18. Play was suspended on Thursday night at 8:24 p.m. due to darkness.
Nanna Koerstz Madsen (Copenhagen, Denmark) remained the 18-hole leader as first-round play finished at 9:53 a.m. Koerstz Madsen will tee at 2:41 p.m.
Celine Boutier, No. 3 on the Volvik Race for the Card money list, finished her final four holes of round one on Friday morning and turned in a 5-under, 67. Shannon Fish (Spring, Tx.) jumped up to a tie for second at 5-under, 67. Hannah Green (Perth, Australia) finished Thursday with a 67 as well.
“We finished pretty late yesterday so I was in a rush to go to bed because I knew I had to be back at 7:30 a.m. this morning,” said Boutier, who went to bed around 11 p.m. and woke up just after 5:00 a.m. “I tried to stay fresh as best I could to finish the round strong.”
Boutier made a birdie on 15 and made three pars to close her first round on Friday morning.
“I feel like I have taken advantage of a lot of birdie opportunities so far,” said Boutier. “My putter has been really good. I have had a lot of good par saves.”
Boutier had about 40 minutes in between the end of her first round and the beginning of her second (9:29 a.m.).
“I’ll probably just putt a little bit,” said Boutier. “I don’t want to over due anything so I stay fresh for the long day.”
Charlotte Thomas (Guildford, England) played 17 holes on Thursday and finished the 18th on Friday with a par to post a 2-under, 70.
“I thought we would finish yesterday so it was kind of weird to just come back today and finish a par-3 (18th hole),” said Thomas. “We just had an eight hour turnaround so it has definitely been interesting.”
Thomas went home, grabbed some Chipotle for dinner and then went to sleep.
“I meditate in the morning and I think that helps me a lot,” said Thomas, who woke up at 5:00 a.m. “It helps me to get back in the right frame of mind. You just have to roll with it.”
ROCHESTER, New York, July 20, 2017 - Nanna Koerstz Madsen’s (Copenhagen, Denmark) brilliance showed up once again on Thursday in round one of the Danielle Downey Credit Union Classic. The two-time winner carded a 6-under, 66 to set the pace in her quest for a third win and a “Battlefield Promotion” to the LPGA Tour this year. Hannah Green (Perth, Australia), who has a win and six top 10’s, is one shot off the lead at 5-under, 67.
Play was suspended for the night due to darkness at 8:24 p.m. and only the morning groups finished 18 holes. There are 24 groups and 72 players that will complete round one on Friday. The first-round will resume at 7:30 a.m. and round two will begin at 8:45 a.m.
The 23-year-old started on the back nine with birdies on two of her first three holes and made the turn at 5-under after birdies on 15, 16 and 17.
“I was hitting pretty much all the fairways,” said Koerstz Madsen, who hit 11 of 14 fairways and attempted 28 putts. “My approach shots were good and I made a couple of putts.”
Koerstz Madsen was 15 holes into the day when lightning and heavy rain forced Tour officials to blow the horns and evacuate the course at 12:28 p.m. Play did not resume until 4:26 p.m.
“It was a long wait,” said Koerstz Madsen. “You just want to finish when you have two and a half holes left so it was tough to just sit in there (clubhouse), but nobody is in charge of the weather.”
She occupied time during the delay by spending time with her host mom and eating lunch.
Koerstz Madsen made birdie on the first hole after the three hour and 58 minute delay. She made par on hole eight and then an unfortunate bogey on her last.
“I wasn’t really in the zone after the delay, but I made a birdie when I got out there,” said the 2016 Olympian. “I hit a really good shot on eight, but it had too much backspin on it and then made a bad bogey on nine, but it was still a really good round.”
Koerstz Madsen, who ranks second on the Volvik Race for the Card money list, also has a chance to make the European Solheim Cup team as a captain’s pick (Annika Sorenstam is the captain for Team Europe).
“I really want to be there (Solheim Cup),” said Koerstz Madsen. “I didn’t play well at the U.S. Women’s Open when I had to play good, but the U.S. Women’s Open is a hard course and I wasn’t used to it. I don’t know what is going to happen, we will see what Annika decides. Winning is not a bad thing, if I could win this week that might be a good thing.”
Koerstz Madsen won the Epson Classic and the Fuccillo Kia Classic of NY. She has six total top 10 finishes including back-to-back top five results in the last two starts. A third win this week would give her Category 13 status on the 2017 LPGA Tour priority list.
“This is a new tournament and I just want to win it as much as last week or any other week,” said Koerstz Madsen. “I’m just going in with the mindset of playing as well as I can and seeing what happens of Sunday.”
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