What the morning giveth, the afternoon taketh away. Though play was still going on Friday, Hack will be below the cut line when the second round concludes Friday night.
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She held a share of the lead before a bogey at 17, but said she couldn’t be disappointed with her one-over effort. “I hit one poor shot all day and got in the hazard on three”. A rather routine press conference suddenly broken up with laughter by the World No. 1.
Maude-Aimee Leblanc of Sherbrooke, Que., had an even-par 72 to open the U.S. Women’s Open, needing only 26 putts (tied for seventh fewest).
Even Ko was impressed by the South Korean’s performance. We’re about to find out.
Stanford birdied three of her final four holes and shot 1-under, moving for a tie for 10th to sixth place. Rest assured, the victor of this 71st edition will not be over par.
But the next two days will bring consistency and clarity.
As it is, the winning score just might go up, not down.
But an errant tee shot at the ninth proved to be disastrous for Park and it took her five strokes just to get to the green, where she converted a long two-putt to salvage double bogey.
“It was definitely playing a lot tougher all day”, said Henderson, who ended up shooting 76, “but you know I didn’t have a birdie all day and that kind of cost me”.
“It was a really cool group”, Ko said. And it can end up being a little bit of adrenaline.
Ko has been atop the Rolex Rankings for 36 consecutive weeks.
What will really happen for party-girl Ko on Sunday in San Martin, is that she will return to a nearby rented home with her family and eat whatever mom, Tina, has prepared.
But her Women’s Open record is nothing fancy.
She was tied on 139 with Japan’s Haru Nomura, who had four birdies in her 69.
But she did give a serious answer, complete with a shout-out to her mother.
Lexi Thompson, ranked No. 4 in the world, had three bogeys on the front nine, but birdied the 10th and the 15th holes. She gets back to what she’s doing, and she executes. I had a seat but there was no point in having one because you were jumping up and down the whole time. “It takes a lot of great golf, a lot of patience to win this championship”.
Ko may be only 19, but, remarkably, she is the most seasoned and experienced player on the leaderboard.
Perhaps no one pines for this championship more than Yang.
Fox Sports 1 will broadcast the U.S. Women’s Open live again on Friday from 3-8 p.m. ET.
Yang has two seconds and four top-5s in the past six Women’s Opens.
CHAMPIONS: Scott Dunlap shot 8-under 64 to take the first-round lead at the Dick’s Sporting Goods Open in Endicott, N.Y. She doesn’t do much more than tap her club if she missed hit a shot and not much more than a fist bump if she made a hard one. “I did not believe I was able to win like this”, said Froome, who used a left jab to push aside a fan running too close to him before his stunning descent. Coupled with a tough setup, it meant just 21 rounds under par and only four of those in the 60s.
Yang has been the antithesis to the pattern at CordeValle.
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“She’s so steady. There’s so many good players, but she’s something else”.
