Two-time All-American and University of Southern California alum Allisen Corpuz is in contention heading into the final round of the Palos Verdes Championship presented by Bank of America after a cumulative five-under in her fifth LPGA event as a rookie.
Earning her Tour membership in the 2021 Q-Series, Corpuz has made the most of her LPGA Tour opportunities, earning two top-twenty finishes in her previous two events, placing 18T at the LOTTE Championship and 17T at the DIO Implant LA Open. She is on track to do even better at Palos Verdes.
Corpuz is another USC competitor familiar with Palos Verdes Golf Club. She said, "I played it as an individual my freshman year (at USC) and made the travel team the following years. The last time I was out here was for Pac-12s, which was a little under two years ago. They made a couple changes throughout the course, flattening out some of the greens and opening up a bunch of roll-off areas on the green."
Native to Hawaii, Allisen said she isn't afraid of the wind and has played this course more than forty-five times in her career. "I think any course that gets windy kind of plays to my advantage because I just feel really comfortable out there."
Corpuz would have b potentially been at the top of the leaderboard but for a double bogey on the penultimate hole. She attributed her 17th-hole hiccup, where she hit it in a greenside bunker, to the greens playing firmer than usual. "It was a bit of awkward yardage for me. It needed to be a really good swing, and it just wasn't. The bunker lie was a little difficult—just a bit downhill. The green was a lot firmer than I thought.”
"I don't know if it's the wind drying out the greens or what, but, I mean, a lot of approach shots, especially downwind, it's just taking a huge kick. As long as you're playing smart, it's still scorable," she said.
Overall, Corpuz was proud of her four birdies and an eagle. She said, "It was a really solid round. Even the double (bogey) was just bad luck. But I knocked in some good birdie putts and an eagle at seven and hit the ball well."
The 24-year-old smiled as she recounted her eagle and said, "I can't remember my distance, but I wanted to hit a hybrid, and my caddie was saying, you know, we watched Hye Jin's ball bounce over the green. He was saying it's a little firmer up there than we think, so I ended up hitting the 5-iron. It took a really good kick to about 12 feet, and then I was able to make that for the eagle."
Allisen finished the round with a comeback two-putt on hole 18 after being stuck in the fairway. She said, "For the pro-am, the pin was in a similar position, so I knew how it needed to finish. It was more just trying to get it to that halfway mark and then let it take the speed down."
While looking for her first professional win, Corpuz is heading into tomorrow calm and collected. "I'm just trying to trust my routine and keep doing the same thing. I'm trying to take this year as a learning process and not be too hard on myself and just be happy about where I am. It's so awesome to hear all the cheers. I have some family and friends out here supporting me, so it's been really fun."
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