Considering her recent form, it’s no surprise to see Xiyu Lin near the top of the leaderboard through two rounds at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. The People’s Republic of China native carded a bogey-free, 4-under 67 to sit in a share of second on Thursday, backing up that round with an even-par 71 on Friday that saw her make four bogeys, two birdies and an eagle on the par-5 18th hole. It’s her first round in the 70s since the second round of the Cognizant Founders Cup, and while she wasn’t able to grind out something in the red, Lin wasn’t too fussed about the bogeys. In fact, the 27-year-old felt quite the opposite.
“I know yesterday was phenomenal, but I know I'm eventually going to make some bogeys. I shouldn't say that but making a bogey on the first hole kind of take a little bit of that thought away because I know it's impossible to not make a mistake out here, so all I need to do is just get over it,” said Lin, who hit 12 of 14 fairways and 12 of 18 greens in the second round. “Only making bogey, don't make double or anything worse, and get over it and mentally be still prepared, be aggressive, ready for birdies. I think that's going to be the mindset for the next two days, too.”
Lin has been one of the most consistent players throughout the last two seasons, only missing two cuts and recording four runner-up finishes since last year’s Honda LPGA Thailand. Her most recent second-place performance came at the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro when Lin lost in a playoff to champion Hannah Green, and she came to Baltusrol Golf Club fresh off a tie for third at last week’s Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give. This kind of good golf is typically hard to sustain week in and week out on the LPGA Tour, but Lin can’t really say what the secret to her consistency is, just that she still hasn’t seen anything “crazy” from herself just yet.
“I feel like I've been playing good but I haven't had one week that I do like crazy stuff. I think this is what I worked for. Like I worked really hard. I tried to work on a swing, work on the short game, work on the putting. That's what I expected to come out,” said Lin, who has recorded four top-15 finishes this season. “I would say being in contention, it's something I expect to see myself to do, so it's nothing really surprised me. But I do know I probably have another gear in me that haven't really shown yet.”
But as she looks ahead to playing the weekend in her 38th career major, Lin won’t be thinking about winning, having learned in the past that when she starts to want it too much, that elusive first victory will continue to remain just out of reach.
“I feel like last year I had a great year. This year I had some chances, but like I said a couple weeks ago, I've definitely been trying too hard. I've been like pushing myself to look for the missing pieces, and it didn't turn out well,” Lin said. “I think I shouldn't be thinking about that. I will go for it when I'm on the course, but when I'm off the course, I feel like I should just act normal, just every day stay humble, stay attacking, stay aggressive, and doing all these good things. I know some good results will come.”
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