Sung Hyun Park of Korea reads a putt on the 14th green during the first round of the 2018 KPMG Women's PGA Championship

Park Leads On Day One

Thursday afternoon, Sung Hyun Park surged to the top of the leaderboard with a bogey-free, 66 to take the outright lead on day one of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. She leads by one-stroke ahead of 2016 KPMG Women’s PGA Champion Brooke Henderson, Brittany Altomare, Jaye Marie Green and Jessica Korda.

Park, a three-time winner on the LPGA Tour and 2017 U.S. Women’s Open Champion, used her length to her advantage at Kemper Lakes Golf Club, which favored the Tour’s longest hitters, and playing beyond its 6,635-yard set up in round one.

“The course was pretty wet today, but I felt pretty comfortable today,” Park said through a translator. “The course is long and difficult, and I think it's pretty big benefit for the long hitter.”

The reigning co-Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year, has struggled in recent weeks. Since her victory at the Volunteers of America LPGA Texas Classic, she missed the cut in her next three starts and finished T61 last week in Arkansas. Park hasn’t been able to get the putts to drop, so she switched putters and changed her routine. She Swapped out her TaylorMade Spider to the Black and reduced the length of the putter by an inch. The changes helped Park made it around in 27 putts on Thursday.

“I felt like something little was missing, especially my putting,” Park explained. “This week, I feel pretty comfortable and confident.”

Brooke Henderson of Canada hits her tee shot on the second hole during the first round of the KPMG Women's PGA Championship

Brooke’s Blitz To The Top

Brooke Henderson keeps one of the most active schedules on the LPGA Tour. She took a rare week off last week from the Tour, skipping the stop in Arkansas. Instead, she flew to Saskatchewan for the CP Women’s Open media day, and then on Monday traveled to Rhode Island to play in the CVS Charity Classic alongside the PGA Tour’s Billy Andrade and Keegan Bradley. Their team won for the second consecutive year. That drive to elevate her game to compete with the men gave her a boost on Thursday as she recorded a 5-under par, 67 in the afternoon to sit just one-stroke back of the lead.

“It was a lot of fun,” Henderson said about Thursday’s round. “I just feel like I was hitting the ball great and making a lot of putts, so hopefully waking up early tomorrow morning and getting the next round started it'll carry on.”

Henderson, who started her day on the back, got off to a rough start with back-to-back birdies, but she recovered with a 30 on her inward nine. Henderson had just 25 putts on Thursday with a new putter, which she just put in the bag on Monday. She switched from a blade to a mallet, increased the putter length and changed the grip.

“Everything is different, which I think is a good thing,” said Henderson.

The Canadian won the 2016 KPMG Women's PGA Championship at Sahalee, where she defeated Lydia Ko in a playoff.

Beck Plays Injured

As the old saying goes, beware the injured golfer.

Last Tuesday, Laetitia Beck sprained her right ankle while getting out of her car during the Tour’s stop in Arkansas. She missed the cut. But Thursday, a week and a half after the injury, Beck limped her way to a 4-under par, bogey-free 68 at Kemper Lakes Golf Club to sit just one-stroke back of the lead. Although her ankle doesn’t hurt when she swings, the four-hour walk around Kemper Lakes had Beck searching for every available spot to sit on the course.

“I was hoping this week it would be okay,” said Beck, who planned to find the fitness trailer after her interview. “Maybe it distracts me from what's going on really. I try to take breaks and I sit a lot, so people probably think I'm lazy.”

A lazy person wouldn’t make the changes she’s made.

With just one top 10 to start the year and five missed cuts, Beck has spent the last two weeks overhauling her game. She parted with both her coach and her caddie and has a new caddie, who she’s working with for the first time, this week.

“It just felt easy today,” said Beck, the Tour’s first player from Israel. “I want a caddie to help me just to know the course better, especially here where it's a new week. Often, I do my own thing, but having a caddie and someone that I can communicate with about the distance, about the club, it's nice.”

Beck often plays well in the opening rounds, but has trouble carrying that momentum into the weekend. That pressure to perform forced her to reassess her goals for this season, which made relaxing on the course her number one priority this season.

“Last year, I was a little bit uncomfortable with the swing and a little stressed over the ball,” Beck explained. “My main goal is to be free, just let it happen.”

Beck, who joined the Tour in 2015, has two career top 10s and remains in search of her first win. But if she can remain relaxed this weekend, it might just happen. In a major way.

Opening Round Highlights

Trending on Social

Five Things to Know From Round One of the KPMG Women's PGA Championship

Related Articles