Only one Canadian was sitting inside the top 10 after first-round play on Thursday at the CPKC Women’s Open and it was LPGA Tour veteran Alena Sharp. The 42-year-old fired a 3-under 69 at Shaughnessy Golf and Country Club, making two bogeys and five birdies, three of which came consecutively on holes 5, 6 and 7. The 69 ties her low score of the 2023 LPGA Tour season and is her lowest first-round score since day one of the 2022 ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican. Sharp has been primarily competing on the Epson Tour this season in an effort to regain her LPGA Tour status for the 2024 season so getting a sponsor invitation into the CPKC Women’s Open to play in front of a hometown crowd was a treat for the Hamilton, Ontario native. Thus far, she’s taking advantage of the opportunity.
“I feel like every Canadian will say the same thing. Whether you're on the LPGA or PGA you always want to do well at home,” said Sharp, who is making her 18th start in this event. “There is always a little bit extra pressure. Obviously, we do it to ourselves. I could feel the nerves a little bit (Wednesday) and then (Thursday) morning but shook it off. Held on. You got to just hold on and try and just make a change. Hitting a few greens right away and then hitting some good shots in, and I made a birdie on I think my fourth or fifth hole of the day and I calmed down and was in the driver's seat the rest of the way.”
Despite all of her past experience competing in the CPKC Women’s Open, Sharp has only managed to find the top 10 twice in this tournament, tying for 10th in 2007 at Royal Mayfair Golf Club and finishing solo fourth in 2016 at Priddis Greens Golf and Country Club. This week is just her fourth start of the 2023 LPGA Tour season and her best finish of the year thus far is a solo eighth that she captured alongside partner Sarah Kemp at the Dow Great Lakes Bay Invitational.
On the Epson Tour, Sharp has recorded one win at the Champions Fore Change Invitational and four additional top-10 finishes this season and is currently ninth in the Race for the Card with $69,585 earned in 2023. In fact, when the nerves began to crop up in the first round, Sharp didn’t tell herself to think about her past accomplishments throughout her career and what she’s achieved in her 19 years on the LPGA Tour. She instead chose to focus on how she’s held her own this season on the Epson Tour against the young, up-and-coming talent of the next generation, reassuring herself that if she can do it out there, she can absolutely play good golf in front of her fellow countrypeople.
“I'm walking down 10 and 11 and I'm like, what are you doing? You've been in the hunt on the Epson Tour, which those players are solid. Like the top 10, solid. You have to play good golf. It's not any different. You're making a big deal out of this. Stop. Stop it,” Sharp said. “Who knows what could happen this week, right? I could maybe clinch my card this week out here. You just never know. So, I'm keeping my mind and options open still. I have my plan set to play the last five Epson (Tour events), but coming in here, I wanted to take all the hard work I've done and prove to myself that I could do it on a hard golf course.”
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