Amateur Mia Hammond earned her LPGA Tour debut by shooting a 5-under 66 to win the Monday qualifier for the opportunity to play in this week’s Dana Open. The 15-year-old is teeing it up in Sylvania, Ohio as the youngest player in the field. The high school sophomore entered Saturday's round at Highland Meadows, tied for 20th after shooting a pair of 68s in the first two rounds to make her first cut on the LPGA Tour.
Hammond started birdie-bogey in the third round but quickly recovered, adding two additional birdies on the front nine. As the weather worsened, she picked up bogeys on No. 10 and No. 13.
"I started off pretty well. Pretty steady,” said Hammond, who is from New Albany, Ohio. “Then just trying to deal with the rain as much as possible. It picked up towards the middle of my round. I want to say on 10, it started to get a little worse. That was difficult to manage. I'm not typically used to playing in those conditions. I have maybe, you know, three or four times in the past year, but it's definitely something that needs some adjusting to it.”
Hammond took the time during the rain delay to try and dry off, as her clothing was completely soaked and she had not brought a change of clothes. She tried to stay warm and dry and, as she put it, 'stay in the moment and in her groove’, doing so successfully as she managed to card a 1-under 70 on Saturday.
"I know other players out here have a little more experience than me with that case scenario. But I feel like I managed myself pretty well,” the 15-year-old said. “I had a couple hours to kind of recuperate, in a sense, during the rain delay, kind of fix what was going on. I hit it a little bit worse than I normally do today. So it was kind of just a matter of getting the feel for my swing back on the range and getting a feel for a few putts on the putting green. I feel like it worked out. I finished 1-under after the rain delay."
The Ohio native is undoubtedly a crowd favorite and looking forward to her final round, currently sitting in a tie for 21st at 7-under. Hammond is no stranger to being on the big stage, winning the girls' 14-15 division of the 2022 Drive, Chip and Putt National Finals in Augusta, Georgia, last year, and will relish this latest opportunity to showcase her ability on Sunday at the Dana Open.
"I have a lot of people coming out to watch me that are very close to me, and I'm so excited for them to be here with me and share my first experience alongside of me,” Hammond said. “So it's just going to be such a great day that I'm just going to take it all in, just remember it forever. It's truly is going to be an experience I'll never ever forget."
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