The seven-time major champion rolled back the years with a near-flawless opening round, starting with 10 straight pars before notching four birdies on the back nine to finish with a four-under-par 66 at Pennsylvania s Lancaster Country Club.
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Stephanie Meadow of Northern Ireland hits out of a bunker onto the eighth green during a practice round for the U.S. Women’s Open golf tournament at Lancaster Country Club in Lancaster this week. “I hit every fairway, missed just the last green on nine”.
World number one Park In Bee of South Korea stood two-under through 14 holes when the weather delay struck, along with 16-year-old Chinese amateur He Mu-ni, who had completed 11 holes.
Leading-ranked Inbee Park birdied two of her final 3 holes before play was stopped and was at 2 under through 14.
The unheralded Alex, who has been tinkering with some swing adjustments, notched her first top 10 of the year with a tie for ninth in Arkansas two weeks ago and carried her form over to the first round of the year’s third major championship.
Thompson, who has never won in 214 PGA Tour starts, had an eagle on the par-4 14th to highlight his impressive start.
I covered Webb’s 2000 U.S. Women’s Open at the Merit Club outside Chicago, and the Australian was a golfer in full flight, much like Tiger Woods, who won the Open Championship that same week in St. Andrews. The victor of the 1987 championship also has the most U.S. Women’s Open starts among the 156-player field with 27, including this year.
“It’s been a test of my patience, I feel like I’ve had some good golf in me”, Webb said. Now, the players are seeing a different, more challenging layout after nearly eight inches of rain fell on the course in June. Defending champion Michelle Wie shot a 2-over 72 and will tee off at 12:51 p.m. Central on Friday.
Park said she is boosted by previous wins in major tournaments.
“It’s still another tournament and another golf course but I’m enjoying the hospitality that we don’t normally get, ” said, Lopez, 23, who is from Whittier, California.
“I gave myself a lot of looks, and on the front nine, it wouldn’t have added up to 20 feet with the four birdies I made”, Webb said.
“I’m not on my A-game, and to shoot 2-under par, I’ll definitely take that”, Pressel said. “So I think this is hopefully a trend in the right direction”.
“That’s never been a goal of mine”, she said.
“Obviously I was really excited for that week, disappointed with the way it ended on a Friday”, Ko, of New Zealand, reflected. “Just a couple of mental and physical mistakes I definitely want to clear up going into (Friday)”. She has been working on swing changes and it all seemed to come together Thursday as she birdied three of her last five holes to get to 4 under.
“I’m not a frontrunner for this tournament, really”.
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The increase in the 2015 U.S. Open prize came as a result of the USGA’s partnership with FOX Sports, so it would make sense to assume that the women’s purse would receive the same treatment.
