GILBERT, Ariz. — After missing the cut last week in her first start since becoming a mother at the FIR HILLS SERI PAK Championship, Germany’s Caroline Masson is currently sitting in the top 10 at the Ford Championship presented by KCC through two rounds at Seville Golf and Country Club.
She opened her week in Gilbert, Ariz., with a bogey-free, 4-under 68 on Thursday, making four birdies throughout the round, two of which were back-to-back on holes 17 and 18, and then turned up the heat on Friday in the desert.
The 34-year-old shot out of the gate, making a pair of back-to-back birdies on the par-4 11th and par-5 12th holes to get to 6-under, parring her next four holes before picking up another birdie on the par-3 17th hole to move to 7-under overall.
Masson carded two more birdies on Nos. 1 and 2, now sitting at 9-under for the tournament with seven holes to play, and then eagled the par-5 5th hole to get to 11-under overall, parring out to post a 7-under 65, her lowest round on the LPGA Tour since day three of the 2022 Dana Open two seasons ago.
“Being back and enjoying golf a lot more than I have in the past, coming out here and shooting a good score yesterday, I was like, okay, I can do it,” Masson said. “Didn't get myself in trouble much (today). Didn't even do anything crazy except for one really cool hole-out bunker shot. I think we had a good plan, my caddie and I, and we stuck to it.
“I told (Danny Sharp, her caddie) coming down nine, my last hole, I don't remember the last time I've been this patient and able to stick to the targets and not get ahead of myself or too aggressive. So that was really fun.”
Before last week in Palos Verdes Estates, Calif., Masson hadn’t competed on the LPGA Tour since the 2022 CME Group Tour Championship, taking maternity leave after completing her 10th season on the LPGA Tour and then giving birth to her son Benton on April 29, 2023. Returning to professional athletics after having a baby is a tall order for any new mother, both mentally and physically, no matter what sport you play, and for Masson, it’s given her an entirely new perspective about her career on the golf course, a mindset shift that seems to be paying off so far this week just outside of Phoenix.
“I think my score wasn't great (last week). I didn't make a ton of birdies, but I saw a lot of positives,” said Masson. “The golf course is obviously a little bit different, a little bit less trouble here than last week, but I think we worked on the right things. I have a really good feeling the way I'm swinging it. I'm pretty relaxed out there.
“It's cool to put in all this work and come back out and to challenge yourself to do this. It's not that easy. But for us to be able to live this life as a family on the road, take (Benton) here, he's still little, so he wouldn't understand right now, but winning a golf tournament with him here would be absolutely amazing, and the big dream. I'm going to work hard to make that happen.”
Masson will have an opportunity to do just that over the weekend at Seville Golf and Country Club as she is sitting just three shots back of Australian Hannah Green, who fired a 61 on Friday to hold the 36-hole lead at the Ford Championship. And as she pursues that goal of winning as a mother over the next 36 holes in the desert, Masson will be looking to emulate the recent success of recently recrowned Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1 Nelly Korda, for whom her husband, Jason McDede, currently caddies.
Masson spent a lot of time traveling with Benton during her maternity leave, going from event to event all around the world to watch Korda and McDede compete, and was even more motivated to find a win of her own after seeing the duo capture a playoff victory last week at the FIR HILLS SERI PAK Championship. It was Korda’s 10th time winning on the LPGA Tour and was a performance Masson will hope to have recreated come Sunday afternoon in Arizona.
“Nelly and Jason have been inspiring throughout this whole time,” said Masson. “I have watched them a lot. Came out to a bunch of tournaments and walked with them, and watching Nelly play is unbelievable. She makes it look so easy. She's just so good. I caught myself comparing sometimes, and I think Jason is really good at saying, Nelly is Nelly and Caro is Caro. Caro has to play her own game. Seeing them win is always fun. The big dream is to hopefully do that myself and hopefully beat them one week.”
But that isn’t the only goal that Masson has set herself for the 2024 season. Both the Paris Olympics and Solheim Cup will be contested in August and September, respectively, and the German has yet to count herself out of qualifying for either competition, working as hard as she can to give herself a chance at representing her country later this year.
“It's yes and no because, of course, it's a goal,” said Masson of qualifying for her third Olympic Games. “It's pretty farfetched coming back as a mom, not really knowing where you're at. I think both Olympics and Solheim, I think I can do it. I just have to perform every day and hit every shot and see where I stand when those teams are being picked. It's a goal in the far distance, but I think I am really good at focusing on what I have to do right now.”
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