JODI EWART SHADOFF LEADS AFTER FIRST ROUND
England’s Jodi Ewart Shadoff opened with a bogey-free 7-under par 65 on Thursday to take a two-shot lead through the first round of the 2018 Swinging Skirts LPGA Taiwan Championship in Taoyuan City, Chinese Taipei. The 30-year-old holds the overnight lead after the first round for the fourth time in her LPGA career as she vies for her elusive first victory.
Ewart Shadoff, who has two 65s in her last three rounds of competition, acknowledged that she’s playing her best golf of the year, saying, “I think changing my irons a month ago has definitely helped with my confidence. I've just been lacking feel in my long game the whole year, really, and it's just affected my confidence somewhat. So it's nice just to like be able to trust what I'm doing and my swing.
20-year-old American Nelly Korda and 10-year LPGA veteran Haeji Kang of the Republic of Korea, both also searching for their first LPGA win, share second place after matching rounds of 5-under, 67. Five players are tied at 4-under including Chinese Taipei’s Wei-Ling Hsu.
JODI’S GETTING CLOSE
A 2011 LPGA rookie, Jodi Ewart Shadoff has been close in her career but has yet to break through for her first career LPGA win. Of the 16 top-10 finishes in her career, two of those were runner-up results which have come in the last two seasons – at the 2016 Citi Banamex Lorena Ochoa Invitational Presented by AeroMexico I Delta and in a major championship at the 2017 Ricoh Women's British Open.
Ewart Shadoff has two top-10 finishes on the year including a season-best T7 at the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic. She has played well in her last two starts in Asia, finishing in the top 19 in the first two events of the 2018 fall Asia swing in Korea and China.
KORDA CONFIDENT IN ASIA
Second-year player Nelly Korda has played some of her best golf when the LPGA Tour ventures to Asia. In 10 career starts playing in Asia, Korda has never finished worse than T40 and has seven finishes of T17 or better, including four top-10s and her career-best T2 result at the 2018 HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore.
“I just love Asia in general,” said Korda. “I love the Asian Swing. It just seems like so easy for the players. Everyone is around each other. It's kind of like we're a big family. I feel comfortable.”
KANG PUTS INJURY IN REARVIEW
27-year-old Haeji Kang is playing pain-free now that she has recovered from a nagging wrist injury that has plagued her over the last three years. The pain was enough to keep her from playing a few tournaments, but Kang is poised to leave the hard times behind and finish her 2018 on a high note.
Kang made a couple of goals for herself for the rest of the season, saying, “I'm coming back from injury, so like I'm actually, I feel very grateful that I'm in the Asia tournaments, but I would love to finish in the Top-50 this year, and then yeah, start off from the Asia events next year.”
HSU TOPS CHINESE TAIPEI CONTINGENT
Rolex Rankings No. 69 Wei-Ling Hsu (T4, -4) posted the low first round of the 18 players from Chinese Taipei in the field this week. Babe Liu (T9, -3) along with amateurs Yu-Chiang Hou (T13, -2) and Chia Yen Wu (T35, E) were the only other players from Chinese Taipei at even par or better in Round 1.
“I'm really hoping that I can get a Top-10 this week, and you know, you never know,” Hsu said. “Still got three days to go. So just keep focused and do what you need to do. So that's it. That simple.”
PLAYER NOTES
Rolex Rankings No. 59 Jodi Ewart Shadoff (65, -7)
Ewart Shadoff, 30, is from North Yorkshire, England and played collegiately at the University of New Mexico
On Thursday, Ewart Shadoff shot her second 65 in her last three rounds, dating back to the third round in last week’s Buick LPGA Shanghai
Ewart Shadoff holds the lead after the first round for the fourth time in her LPGA career
A 2011 LPGA rookie, Ewart Shadoff has 16 career top-10 finishes, including two in 2018, with two runner-up results
Ewart Shadoff is a two-time member of the European Solheim Cup Team (2013, 2017) with an overall 3-4-0 record and a two-time member of Team England at the UL International Crown (2016, 2018) with an overall 5-2-1 record
Rolex Rankings No. 39 Nelly Korda (67, -5)
Korda, 20, is from Bradenton, Fla.
A 2017 LPGA rookie, Korda has ten top-10 finishes in 45 career starts on the LPGA, including a career-best runner-up at the 2018 HSBC Women’s World Championship
Korda finished third in the 2017 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year standings
Korda won the 2016 Sioux Falls GreatLIFE Challenge and finished ninth on the 2016 Volvik Race for the Card Epson Tour money list to earn LPGA Tour status in her first year as a professional
Korda’s older sister, Jessica, is a five-time LPGA winner but is not in the field this week
Rolex Rankings No. 94 Haeji Kang (67, -5)
Kang, 27, is from Seoul, Republic of Korea
A 2009 LPGA rookie, Kang has 14 career top-10 finishes in 188 LPGA starts with her best finish being third (four times)
In 2018, Kang has made the cut in 10 of 20 starts and tied her career-best finish with a T3 result at the Aberdeen Standard Investments Ladies Scottish Open
Kang had one win and five additional top-10 finishes on the Epson Tour in 2008
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