EVIAN-LES-BAINS, France | American Alison Lee lit up Evian Resort Golf Club on day one of The Amundi Evian Championship, firing a first-round, 5-under 66 that put her square in the mix early at the fourth major of the 2023 LPGA Tour season. The 28-year-old made two bogeys and seven birdies on Thursday, four of which came in a six-hole stretch on the front nine, including back-to-back birdies on holes 8 and 9. After turning in 31, Lee cooled slightly on the back nine, making one bogey on No. 13 and two birdies on holes 15 and 18 to post a 66 and tie her second-lowest round of the season.
The score is also her lowest round on the LPGA Tour since the first day of the LPGA Drive On Championship at Superstition Mountain, where Lee opened with a 7-under 65. Any score in the red at this tricky venue is quite an accomplishment, and Lee was incredibly pleased with her first-round effort, crediting her putting as the reason for her Thursday success.
"Putting has been my weakest point over the past year. You could just look at my stats and that's something I've been trying really hard to work on," said Lee, who ranked 129th (-0.86) in strokes gained putting ahead of this week. "Today was one of those days where, I mean, I even laughed at some of the putts I made because I wasn't expecting it to go in. After the first few holes, making a few good putts gave me a lot of confidence going into the rest of the round. Every time I had a birdie chance, I looked at it as if I can make this. That's what I said to myself."
Lee is making her sixth appearance in the Amundi Evian Championship, and in her five previous starts, she has one top-10 finish, a tie for sixth that came in 2015. This week in France is her 14th start of the 2023 season, and she has found herself inside the top 20 on four different occasions, most notably finishing in a tie for ninth at the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro. Besides one withdrawal and one missed cut, Lee has been incredibly steady this year, and after opening with a low round like she did today, the UCLA alum hopes to keep that momentum rolling throughout the next three days at Evian Resort Golf Club. Lee is a player that places a lot of emphasis on her mental game, and as the next 54 holes loom large, she'll be more focused on keeping her mind right than fine-tuning her game physically.
"You would think if I have a good round, whether it's the first day, second day, all three days, going into the final round, it puts me in a better state of mind," explained Lee. "But honestly, sometimes it doesn't, and especially a course like this, when it's a little difficult off the tee it just takes a lot of positive self-talk. I'm trying the best I can to stay confident and in the moment.
"A lot of the time if you see your name at the top of the leaderboard it is a little bit more nerve-wracking and a little bit more anxiety and adrenaline running through the veins. So just trying my best to stay calm and not worry about that too much. I've been putting great. Just trying to focus on making birdies and not making too many mistakes."
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