BETHESDA, MARYLAND | This week, Gerina Mendoza is making her 45th major championship start at Congressional Country Club.
As a seasoned player on the LPGA Tour, she has recorded 11 top-25 finishes in majors since 2011, including six top-10 finishes. Her best finish at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship is a tie for sixth in 2012.
Let’s look at Mendoza’s performance for the first two rounds at the 2022 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
Mendoza shared, “everything was challenging on the golf course. It was playing super long and tough.” The golf course measured 6,809 yards. On the second day, the course played 172 yards less based on the course setup.
Prior to this event since 2018, the average course length in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship measured 6,598 yards.
So, she trusted her process and focused on what she could control. Her second round proved to be successful.
“It’s just one of those things you must have confidence and trust your numbers and trust your lines,” said Mendoza.
The Blue Course is known for elevated, tiered and back sloping greens. Additionally, it is a walking only course with mature trees and 139 bunkers.
After the first round of play, Mendoza said, “if you don’t have a good number coming into greens, it makes it very difficult. You have to be pretty precise into the tiers and humps you have to carry.”
Often golfers focus on their confidence from past performance to improve their scores in the next round.
Historically, in her last 10 starts at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship, she is a cumulative 23-over par in the first round compared to even par in the second round.
Mendoza said, “it takes some time to get a little confidence going.” She improved her putting performance with four fewer strokes on the green and ranked fourth in the field in greens in regulation hit. She uses a PXG Brandon Putter.
| Gerina Mendoza Statistics | ||
|---|---|---|
| 2022 KPMG Women's PGA Championship | ||
| Round 1 | Round 2 | |
| Greens in regulation percentage | 56% | 89% |
| Birdie percentage | 0% | 22% |
| Putting average – Putts per GIR | 2.10 | 1.75 |
What a spectacular course to achieve her 40th bogey-free round in her career. She was one of six players to record a bogey-free round in the first two days of competition.
Mendoza made the cut at +3 going into the weekend.
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