As the wind picked up at the Palos Verdes Championship presented by Bank of America, Marina Alex knew a challenge was ahead of her on Moving Day. After a rough bogey on her starting hole, Alex went birdie-bogey-eagle on Nos. 5-7, and ultimately finished day three with a 1-under 70 to sit at -5 in a tie for third along with eight others heading into the final round.
“[Palos Verdes Golf Club] played tough today. The greens have really firmed out I feel like,” said Alex, who hit more fairways on Saturday, 12, than she has all week, and 10 of 18 greens. “Playing in the afternoon is different. Noticed a lot of low scores out of the morning probably when it was a bit softer and less wind.”
Alex said she’s looking to capitalize more on the par-5s come the final day. Through the first three rounds, Alex is only 2-under combined on Nos. 7, 14 and 16, highlighted by Saturday’s eagle.
“Just had a really good number into the green,” said Alex. “It was just a perfect hybrid and popped like twice short of the green, just rolled in there. I had what was a marginally easy read for these greens so just got a good stroke on it and it was really good momentum in the right direction.”
Alex’s form has been trending in the right direction since the start of the season. The 31-year-old has already earned a top-five finish through seven events in 2022 at the LPGA Drive On Championship at Crown Colony (T4), her best result since the 2020 ISPS Handa Australian Open where she also tied for fourth. She’s coming off an impressive tie for 10th performance at the DIO Implant LA Open, the 27th top-10 finish of her career on Tour. Three strokes of leader Hannah Green, Alex is looking to add a second LPGA Tour victory to her resume, after becoming a Rolex First-Time Winner at the 2018 Cambia Portland Classic.
“I'm excited. I feel like I'm in a good position. It's nice to be in these positions and just take every opportunity that you can get and do the best that you can with it,” said Alex. “I'm looking forward to tomorrow.”
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