Nelly Korda fired a four-over 76 in Round 1 at Pebble Beach.
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PEBBLE BEACH, Calif. — It was Mark Twain summer season climate in California: cool temperatures and cloudy skies. As night time fell over the Monterey Peninsula, the similar query might have been requested of the sky as the leaderboard.
Where are the stars?
It’s nonetheless extraordinarily early at the 78th U.S. Women’s Open — we’re solely 18 holes by means of — however up to now, the stars are largely no-shows. Names like Donegan, Tardy and Moresco adorn the first web page of the leaderboard, whereas the names golf followers are accustomed to are nowhere to be discovered.
Take world No. 1 Jin Young Ko as our first instance. She was amongst the event favorites coming into the week — for good purpose — and her pinpoint precision along with her irons ought to portend to low scores at Pebble Beach. With the tiniest greens you may think about plus the problem of a USGA setup, hitting your spots is a should. But golf is a humorous recreation, and even when all the substances are in place, it’s not possible to predict.
Ko, teeing off on the tenth in the chilly morning wave, bogeyed Nos. 10, 12, 14 and 16, and proceeded to make a double at 17. She took 42 strokes to get round her first 9 and tumbled down the leaderboard earlier than half the area even teed off. Things have been a bit higher on her second 9, however with just one birdie towards two bogeys, she signed for a seven-over 79 in Round 1 and sits T126 after 18 holes.
Ko performed alongside world No. 2 Nelly Korda, whose play wasn’t a lot better. She got here out of the gates with a double on her first gap and etched three extra squares on the card earlier than the flip. Korda’s swing has been a piece in progress of late (she’s simply switched swing coaches), and she or he’s executed all the pieces she will be able to consider to discover her manner. She was out and in of the TaylorMade truck early in the week in search of a driver-shaft mixture she was comfy with, however no quantity of tinkering might salvage her opening spherical at this Women’s Open. With a 76 on the board Thursday, she’s T83 after one spherical.
Nos. 3 and 4 in the Rolex Rankings didn’t fare any a lot better. Lydia Ko limped her manner to a 76 of her personal, whereas Lilia Vu posted a 79. If your betting choices have been knowledgeable by the world rankings, we ship our condolences.
How totally different is that this U.S. Women’s Open? Ask a previous champ
Josh Sens
Among the week’s potential fairytale endings was the final hurrah of Michelle Wie West, who’s enjoying in her remaining U.S. Women’s Open — however she had struggles of her personal. Snake-bitten by a chilly putter, her farewell tour began with a whimper. She was unable to card a birdie all day and tripled the par-5 18th when she misplaced a ball in the Cypress tree guarding the inexperienced. Tomorrow will probably be the 33-year-old’s swan track barring a classic efficiency.
The Tour’s latest, brightest star — and pre-tournament favourite! — Rose Zhang tried her finest to inject some pleasure into the championship as she birdied three of her first seven holes, however a double at No. 8 derailed her momentum. She was unable to card a birdie for the the rest of the day and battled by means of the drizzle and chilly and impending darkness to get into the home at two over.
If you have been hoping for the stars to present on the recreation’s largest stage, don’t panic: 18 holes of poor play continues to be too quickly to sound the alarm bells. Golf tournaments — particularly majors — are marathons, and the ones hoisting the trophies usually win the battle of attrition. The cream will probably rise to the prime as extra holes are performed and extra errors are made. But with such sloppy play from the stars on Thursday, they’ve dug some deep holes. With the minimize looming tomorrow night, a lot of them will want to go low to even transfer onto Moving Day.
While a few of the recreation’s prime names disappeared on Day 1 at Pebble Beach, there was house atop the leaderboard for different storylines to emerge. Xiyu “Janet” Lin, who paced the area Thursday with a 68 has the probability to avenge her heartbreak at Baltusrol, whereas Hyo Joo Kim can add main No. 2. Áine Donegan, the novice from Ireland, might develop into the first am since 1967 to win this championship, whereas her countrywoman, Leona Maguire, appears to cement her personal legacy as the subsequent Irish star.
Golf followers could be sensible to familiarize themselves with these names as the event heads to Round 2. If the second 18 holes are something like the first, these names will supplant the prototypical stars as the favorites heading into the weekend.
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