Nine holes into the Portland Classic, Xiyu Lin thought for sure she was going to miss the cut.
Lin, who began her week on the back nine at Columbia Edgewater Country Club, made a double bogey on her first hole of the tournament and was three-over par through her first nine holes. But two days later, Lin sits just four strokes back of the lead heading into the final round with a chance to chase down her first win on Sunday.
“I just started off so rusty. I don't know why. Like I wasn't trusting the process. I wasn't ready for the weather,” Lin explained about her rocky start to the week in the cool and wet conditions on Thursday. “I told myself, you've been out here long enough. You should know how to deal with all this. So I kind of put it back, tried to get it back together.”
On Thursday, Lin bounced back with a 32 on her inward nine to come away with a round of 71. Then Friday, she bounced back with a bogey-free round of 65 to advance to the weekend. And on a sunny Saturday she clawed her way into contention, jumping from a tie for 17th into the top five on the leaderboard with 18 holes to play.
“I thought I'm going home after Friday, but then I just fought through it,” Lin said after her third round. “And first of all I'm very proud of myself making the cut.”
After Megan Khang got her long-awaited first victory on Tour last week at the CPKC Women’s Open after eight years on the LPGA Tour, the spotlight now shifts to Lin, who is in her 10th season on Tour and still without a win. Lin, at No. 14 in the Rolex Rankings, is the top-ranked player in the women’s game without a victory.
“I like my position. I'm not going to put too much pressure on myself,” Lin said about her approach on Sunday. “I'm just trying to go out, have another good round, and see what I put myself into.”
Lin has come closer this season to joining the winner’s circle than at any other stage in her career by racking up four top-five results so far this year.
Given the low scores throughout the week in Portland, Lin knows she’ll need to play as boldly as she did the last two days to fight her way back into the tournament as she will on Sunday in order to give herself a fighting chance at getting that elusive first win. Lin has six prior starts in Portland where she’s made half the cuts. Her best finish came in a tie for ninth in 2019.
“I know this course everyone is going to fire at it and even the earlier score shows that,” said Lin. “I kind of know what the momentum is going to be, so trying to be as aggressive as I can.”
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