With pair of 67s in the first two rounds, Amy Yang is in a good position heading into the weekend at Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give. Yang started her day with a birdie on the par-5, 10th hole, but it wasn't until her back nine that the putts started to drop. She made four birdies in a six-hole stretch in her final nine holes, including two back-to-back on holes 3 and 4. Yang attributes her success to her ball striking and her ability to find the spots in the fairway that give her good looks at the pins as Blythefield Country Club isn't very forgiving off the tee. But despite its challenges, Yang also says she's having fun this week and enjoying playing this venue for the sixth time in her LPGA Tour career.
"This course, if you don't have a good ball striking, especially off the tee, you can be blocked by trees, and that can cause your second shots a little harder to reach the green," said Yang, who has hit 20 of 26 fairways this week. "Putting have been working well together. So just everything worked well.
"The whole golf course, I've enjoyed it so much all this week. My ball striking has been really solid the last two rounds, and just enjoying being out here. I like the layout and the new layout as well. Just a lot of good things. I can't just pick one or two."
Yang currently sits one shot off the lead and will be riding her early momentum into the weekend in Belmont, Mich. The 16-year LPGA veteran has showed plenty of maturity throughout the last two rounds, remaining patient and finishing strong in the final stretch. "I would say overall like I've been hitting good. I know my front nine there were (few) birdies, but I was still patient throughout the round,” she said. “I think making putts when I had chances out there on the front nine, which is back nine for me, gave me good momentum throughout the round."
The Republic of Korea native has struggled in 2023, having posted only one top 10 in eight starts this season, a tie for fourth at The Chevron Championship back in April. Yang is a four-time LPGA Tour winner, but her last victory came at the 2019 Honda LPGA Thailand four years ago. As she looks to chase down that fifth Tour title, Yang will continue playing confidently this week and give herself plenty of scoring opportunities throughout the next 36 holes like she did in the first two rounds.
"I've been working on a lot of stuff and recently worked on my like rhythm, the rhythm of my swing, and it's been really helpful consistently. Just, 1, 2, 3, keep it simple out there," said Yang. "I still think the tee balls are very important, where you place your ball on the fairway. Gives either more chance or harder to play out there, and the putting,"
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