It’s fitting that during the week of the 20th anniversary of Annika Sorenstam playing in the 2003 Bank of America Colonial on the PGA Tour, the LPGA Tour would have another player competing in a men’s professional event.
Colombian Mariajo Uribe teed it up on Thursday in the Colombia Classic presentado por Rocha Brothers on the PGA Tour Latinoamérica. In her hometown of Bucaramanga and on her home course, Ruitoque Golf and Country Club, Uribe carded a 3-over 73 in round one. The 33-year-old #LPGAMom recorded two birdies, three bogeys and one double bogey and is feeling confident that there’s a low round out there that she can chase on Friday.
“It was a great experience. Up and down. A lot of weather delays so it cost me a little bit to get warmed up at the beginning. But it was nice to play with the guys, play with people that I know but I've never played competitive golf with them,” said Uribe, who currently sits at T126. “A tough first round, but I know I can go tomorrow and shoot a low round. This is my course. And I can enjoy the second round and maybe give it a good run to see if I can play it on Saturday.”
Uribe is in her 14th season on the LPGA Tour and has recorded 14 career top-10 finishes. She is a two-time Olympian, representing Colombia at the 2016 Rio Olympics, where she tied for 19th, and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, where she tied for 50th. While she expected there to be some differences this week compared to a normal week on the LPGA Tour, Uribe admitted it was a bit of a challenge to not try to outdo her competitors and plans to make some mental adjustments ahead of round two.
“I think just stay patient because I see the guys bomb it past me. I feel like I have to do that too or try to force a lot of birdies. Maybe tomorrow I'm just going to try to do my own game and try to shoot a low round,” Uribe said. “But (the two tours are) really similar. We were talking today that maybe the girls are more straight. We hit more fairways and greens but are probably not as good around the greens or putting. Today I played with Ricardo Celia and his putting was unbelievable. It’s really nice to see that you can have those putting rounds out there and it's motivation for me to work on my putting a little more.”)
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