Crowded At The Top
Thursday, the LPGA Tour returned to Lake Merced Golf Club in Daly City for the first time since 2016. Players love the course and enjoy the challenge of having to think through the placement of each and every shot. They missed playing Lake Merced last season.
What they didn’t miss was the weather.
It was cool and breezy on day one of the inaugural LPGA MEDIHEAL Championship, which made the 6,458 layout play tough and long. Four of the five leaders came from the morning wave, which didn’t have to endure the 20 mph gusts that kicked up in the afternoon.
“Wind is probably the biggest factor on this golf course,” said Lydia Ko, who posted a 68 on day one. “It's a golf course where nobody goes super low, so you just have to keep continuing to play solid and be patient out there and sometimes par is not a bad score.”
Rounds of 4-under par, 68 put Ko, Caroline Hedwall, In-Kyung Kim, Jessica Korda and Su Oh on top of the leaderboard. Oh had the low round of the afternoon, and is the only player on top without a bogey on day one. Lexi Thompson, Charley Hull, Sei Young Kim and Celine Herbin sit one back.
“It was cold and pretty windy out there, and because it's got a lot of elevation, it kind of swirls in the middle like in the low areas, so it was tough,” Oh said after her round. I hit the ball really solid today, and then the ones I missed I made really good up-and-down's. I'm really happy with my round.”
Oh missed the cut in five of her eight starts this season, but Thursday she played with a new set of shafts in her PING irons, which resulted in her low round of 2018.
"I went [with] way heavier shafts, back to steel shafts and feels a lot more stable," said Oh. "I wasn't sure how it was going to work, but it worked pretty well today. Hopefully it will keep working."
Ko Back In The Hunt
Four years ago Lydia Ko won her first event as a member of the LPGA Tour at Lake Merced Golf Club. She has a tattoo of the date on the wrist to remember it by. It meant that much to her. So, if there was anywhere on earth that Ko would go to find a spark to reignite the success she’s had on the LPGA Tour, it would have to be Lake Merced.
“I know this is a golf course where I've played well at. The fans have been amazing, they've been super supportive every single time I've come here,” Ko said after her round.
Ko won the 2014 and 2015 Swinging Skirts LPGA Classic at Lake Merced, and competed there as a junior. Thursday, she posted a 4-under par, 68 to sit tied at the top after day one. It’s the first time the 14-time winner has led on Tour since September 2017.
“I hit a lot of greens, so I'm giving myself many opportunities for birdies, and this is a golf course where you need to drive the ball well and putt well,” said Ko.
Ball striking and putting are both areas Ko has worked hard on improving with new instructor, Ted Oh. She’s showed glimmers of success in both areas, but has had trouble getting her ball striking and putting both clicking during the same week. She has just one top 10 in 2018.
“My ball striking has been getting better these last few weeks, which has been really nice, but then I've been struggling with putting, which was the aspect of the game that was going really well. I feel like the pieces are there and sometimes the hardest thing is to kind of put all those pieces together.”
Monday, Ko turned 21-years-old. And while she’s now officially an adult, with a new team and a new swing, it’s the same Lydia Ko finding success once again at Lake Merced.
Bundle Up
Players who both love and loathe the cold played their way into contention on day one at Lake Merced. Thursday, temperatures peaked at just 57 degrees and the additional wind gusts of 20 mph made for a chilly day of golf. Jessica Korda is not a fan of the cold and wore a pair of oversized black mittens whenever she wasn’t hitting the ball. But she made the most of it, opening with a 4-under par, 68 to move into a share of the lead on day one.
“Obviously, the score says one thing and my hands say another,” Korda said laughing as she waved around her huge mittens. “It was really cold out there today, so it was good that I stuck to kind of my process, and I didn't hit a ton of great shots but I always left myself in a good position.”
Over the years, the weather has further added to the challenge at Lake Merced, especially when the wind picks up. It’s been a nemesis for Korda in years past, who until today, had never recorded a sub-70 round in Daly City.
“Every year we've come here it's been tough weather for us,” Korda said. “Actually, this is still some of the nicer conditions that we've played in compared to the past, so I'll take the cold as long as there's no rain.”
Caroline Hedwall also opened with a 68, but with a totally different mindset. The Swede grew up playing events in Europe and felt right at home in Thursday’s conditions.
“I love it here,” Hedwall said after her round. “I even like this weather, suits me really well, too.”
Cool and windy conditions are in the forecast for the remainder of the week.
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