It hasn’t been a great start to the season for Germany’s Caroline Masson. Her best result so far is a T20 at the LPGA Drive On Championship at Crown Colony and she’s made two additional cuts, finishing T51 in Singapore and T47 in Thailand. In short, nothing to write home about. But Masson is looking to change that narrative at this week’s Chevron Championship. After an opening 4-under 68 on Thursday that saw her battle back from an early bogey on the par-5 second, she’s well on her way to doing so.
“It was good for the heart, good for the soul, too,” said Masson, who carded five birdies in round one. “It's tough because things have not been going great in the last few weeks. You always say, oh, no, not again. Not this kind of stuff. I had a really good straight birdie putt on 1 and didn't make it, and then I did that on 2 and I knew it may happen. I had to dig deep. When things are not going well and you don't get off to a great start, a lot of times it can snowball from there, and we didn't let that happen today, which was nice.”
Masson has made 10 starts at The Chevron Championship and has made the cut every time she’s teed it up, with her two best finishes being a pair of top-10s, a T6 in 2016 and a T9 in 2018. Masson has additionally finished in the top-15 twice at this event in 2013 and 2014, and her first-round 68 ties the German’s second-lowest score at the Dinah Shore, a number she’s fired three other times. With all of that past experience, the 32-year-old veteran knows what it takes to play well here and she hopes to continue her strong play throughout the rest of the week, relishing her last few loops at Mission Hills.
“We worked hard after missing the cut last week and got a couple key thoughts. It's working so far and it’s really fun to hit the ball like that,” she said. “I've always loved this place since the first time I played here. So many good memories. Definitely sad. I understand why we're doing it, but I'm trying to soak in every second being out here. The golf course is playing as good as ever, and just really trying to enjoy every single minute out here.”
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