The grind of professional golf is precisely that – one tournament to the next, one city to the next: a hotel, a rental car, a golf course.

But then a week like this one comes along, and just as summertime kicks off, the DOW Championship gives those on the LPGA Tour a completely different format to inspire some great play.

The team of Madison Young and Daniela Iacobelli is a perfect example.

Team 'Pins & Zins' fired a tidy 9-under 61 during Friday's best-ball run and moved up 40 spots on the leaderboard by the time the afternoon wave got underway.

"I think this is the coolest thing I've ever done in professional golf," Iacobelli said. "This is so underrated. I've never done a team event, I've never done alternate shot, I've never done best ball. I feel like when you're out on the course with your friends, you basically play best ball, so I was definitely ready for that one.”

Iacobelli made nine birdies on her own ball as the team went out in a 3-under 32 before coming home in an incredible 6-under 29. She said she and Young's caddie both use the AimPoint method to read their putts, and they consistently got the exact same reads through their second nine en route to making what she believed was 150 feet of putts.

"The putter got on a little bit of a heater," she said.

"It was pretty sick," Young said of her partner.

Young said it was she who initiated the partnership at the beginning of the year via text. Iacobelli noted as she was reading the message, she was already typing a 'yes' reply.

A good result this week will come at a great time for the duo as we hit the halfway point of the LPGA Tour season, and every point on the Race to CME Globe becomes even more critical. Iacobelli hasn't yet made a cut on the LPGA Tour this season. She has, however, made five of seven cuts on the Epson Tour in 2025 and comes into this week on the LPGA Tour off her best finish of the season on that circuit, a tie for sixth at the Island Resort Championship presented by Delta County Chamber.

Young, meanwhile, has made four cuts so far this year, with her best result coming at the ShopRite LPGA Classic presented by Acer, where she finished tied for 20th. She sits No. 128 in the Race to CME Globe standings.

With a smile, Iacobelli said the "vibes are high" this week. That plays an important role in the day-to-day success of a team – especially since they have not played the alternate-shot format ever before.

"I haven't felt pressure like this to show up for a teammate. It's different," Young said.

"It's been challenging, but we've just been making the best of the entire week. There's been zero negativity, zero," added Iacobelli.

The pair weren't alone in going low through the early part of Friday, as their 9-under 61 effort was matched by both Sarah Schmelzel and Albane Valenzuela and Manon De Roey and Pauline Roussin-Bouchard.

The early-afternoon leaders on Friday, Leona Maguire and Jennifer Kupcho (who won this event in 2022 alongside Lizette Salas and finished runner-up last year with Ally Ewing), shot a 10-under 60. They are just one off the 36-hole record of 126.

"The plan today was just to give ourselves as many chances as we could, try to get two chances on every hole. For the most part, we did that," Maguire said.

The best-ball scoring record is a 58, shot twice before – by Celine Boutier and Yuka Saso (in 2024) and Minjee Lee and Jin Young Ko (in 2019).

But while Iacobelli and Young fell short of that particular record, they're sitting inside the top 10 so far this week at the DOW Championship. For Iacobelli, she has recorded just one top-10 in her LPGA Tour career. It could be a massive week for her confidence going forward.

One thing is for sure, however – the pair are having a great time.

"There is no team out here that has had more fun than us this week. We're all in a house together. We've done everything together. We drive to the course together. We practice together," Iacobelli said. "We have had the most fun out of any team out here, guaranteed."

Young and Iacobelli Thrive in Doing ‘Coolest Thing’ Ever in Pro Golf at the Dow Championship

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