Less than three weeks off her first victory on the LPGA Tour, Matilda Castren couldn’t help but make a big change to her game this week. With a fresh set of Titleist irons in her bag, the 26-year-old from Finland recorded a bogey-free, 5-under 66 following Friday’s six-hour rain delay and holds the clubhouse lead at -10, two strokes clear of Jin Young Ko, who still has 14 holes to go on Saturday, and Jeongeun Lee6.
“They felt so good. I tried them on the range and played the practice rounds with them,” said Castren. “The only little difference was they were a little bit higher flight, maybe couple yards longer. I thought it was perfect.”
Castren arrived at Old American at 6 a.m. ahead of what was supposed to be an 8:15 a.m. tee time. She whiled away the rain delay with a very leisurely breakfast and catching up with friends in the clubhouse. And while the downtime was annoying, at least the Tokyo Olympian knows that she doesn’t have to set an early alarm tomorrow morning, unlike the players in Friday’s afternoon wave, some of whom face 30-plus holes of golf on Saturday.
“I’ll have a little bit more rest compared to the girls that have to wake up really early tomorrow,” she said. “I can just sleep in tomorrow and have a nice breakfast and just chill out before the afternoon.”
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