It was a solid start for Englishwoman Bronte Law on Thursday at the ISPS Handa World Invitational presented by AVIV Clinics. The 28-year-old carded a solid 3-under, 70 at Castlerock Golf Club on day one, making four birdies and one bogey to post her lowest first-round score since she opened with a 70 at the Mizuho Americas Open in June. Starting her day on the par-4 10th hole, Law grabbed a birdie early on the par-5 11th, and then made two more on 14 and 16, both of which are par 3s. She dropped a shot on 18 to turn in 35 but birdied the par-5 3rd hole to erase her mistake, parring out to finish with a 70 and sit one back of the lead. Law was incredibly pleased with her Thursday performance on a difficult, windy day in Northern Ireland and will look to build off this strong first-round showing over the next 54 holes.
“Those into-wind holes were very challenging,” said Law, who hit 11 of 14 fairways and 13 of 18 greens. “Some pin positions there is not much green to work with, and when a gust of wind blows in your face, it makes that landing area even smaller. So being smart with where you want to leave yourself. You know you're not always going to hit all the greens, so leaving yourself in position to where you are more likely to make up and down. Thought I managed that pretty well today. I think that's the key when you're playing this style of golf course. I think it's a lot of fun. But you have to stay switched on all day.”
This is Law’s 13th event of the 2023 LPGA Tour season, and in her 12 previous starts, she has missed seven cuts and earned a season-best finish of T43 at the Mizuho Americas Open. This is just her second appearance in the ISPS Handa World Invitational after missing the second cut in 2021 in her tournament debut. As she works to improve upon that result and flip the trajectory of her year this late in the season, Law will now set her sights on Galgorm Castle Golf Club, a venue that differs drastically from the links-style golf she played today at Castlerock, a change in pace that will take some adjustment from the long-time LPGA Tour veteran.
“I'm going to go over there on the putting green now and get to grips with the green speeds because they're slightly different, hit some shots on the range,” Law said. “Just kind of get out of the wind mentality for links courses and a little more target golf as it will be out there tomorrow. It's been playing a little softer, so, yeah, very different.”
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