CINCINNATI, Ohio | Australian Minjee Lee is liking what she’s seeing so far at Kenwood Country Club’s Kendale Course, opening her week in Cincinnati, Ohio with a bogey-free, 5-under 67 on Thursday. The 27-year-old shot out of the gate, making three birdies on her first three holes and then grabbing another birdie on the par-3 8th hole to turn in 32. She cooled slightly on the back nine, carding just one birdie on No. 12 and eight pars to post a 67, her lowest 18-hole score since the final day of the FREED GROUP Women’s Scottish Open last month. It’s her first bogey-free round since Friday at the Dana Open when she shot a 3-under 68 and the 67 ties her second-lowest opening-round score of the 2023 season. Overall, Lee was pleased with her performance on day one of the Kroger Queen City Championship presented by P&G and says she is relishing another opportunity to play in Ohio, a state she found success in earlier this season.
“I just really enjoy playing the courses (in Ohio). I think it really suits my eye, and I've played well at Dana, and hopefully I can finish well here,” said Lee, who hit 10 of 14 fairways and 15 of 18 greens. “I started really well. I had three birdies off the bat, so 1, 2, 3, so it was really nice to have a fast start. Made one more on the front and then one more on the back, so it was pretty steady, pretty solid all day.”
This is Lee’s 15th start of the 2023 LPGA Tour season, and in her 14 previous starts, she has recorded six top-15 results, two of which were top 10s that came at the Cognizant Founders Cup where Lee finished runner-up after losing in a playoff to Jin Young Ko and the Dana Open in Toledo, Ohio where she tied for seventh with a four-day total of 12-under. This is the major champion’s second time teeing it up in the Kroger Queen City Championship – she missed the cut in the inaugural edition of the event after carding rounds of 76 and 69 – and the Aussie is happy to be playing the Kendale Course as it was intended to be last year. Inclement weather had the course waterlogged and soggy in 2022 and Lee is enjoying the slightly firmer, faster conditions this year, particularly on the greens.
“I really enjoy putting on fast surfaces, so the condition of the greens has been really good. I think it's starting to get a little bouncy out there so nice, hard and fast is always good,” Lee said. “The course is just in really great condition. We didn't really get to play the course like it should have been. Last year it was really wet, so I think they have the course in such great condition and it's just really fun to play.”
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