LPGA. Kingsmill Championship. Ariya Ascends.

The Kingsmill Championship got off to a good start today with Ariya Jutanugarn from Thailand ascending the leaderboard, to lead the tournament by two shots.

Ariya Jutanugarn / Steve Helber

 

17 year-old Ayria, playing on a sponsor exemption,  cruised through her first sixteen holes on The River Course during Thursday’s opening round, with eight birdies, including six during her first seven holes. She came unstuck on hole seventeen, a par three, she made double bogey, but recovered a bit with a birdie on eighteen. Ayria can be very proud of her -7 under par, 64, opening round on the par 71 lay-out;

” I know like eighteen is not a long par four, I can make birdie on that hole.Today, I made a lot of shots. I don’t have any nerve any more.”

In second place at -5 under par, after her first round of 66 is two-time champion at Kingsmill, Cristie Kerr, who birdied both 17 and 18 to finish in style. Cristie spoke about the early wind;

“The wind was really strong when we first started and then, you know, kind of toward the tail end of the front nine it seemed to die down a little and then picked back up, so it was kind of coming and going all day. What was good was the wind direction was fairly consistent.  Sometimes on the 4th and 5th hole it can really swirl around and it can be hard to tell what it’s doing.  It stayed pretty consistent out there as far as one direction so that was at least a good thing. Momentum’s always the thing that you want to try and have, you try and carry over the play from today into tomorrow as best you can.”

Tied in third place at -4 under par, after rounds of 67, are So Yeon Ryu from South Korea and Dewie Claire Schreefel, who hails from the Netherlands.

So Yeon said it was tough and she had tried to focus on one hole at a time;

” Yeah, that one is really tough one because before I started, teed off, I didn’t expect a really low score, then I just focus on each hole. Then I think the 4‑under on the front nine that, oh, maybe I can hit the low score like 8‑under, 9‑under, then I expect birdie birdie birdie and my body’s getting tight and my mind wasn’t there, so it’s really hard to finish great front nine and then turn on the back nine.”

Dewie Claire has fond memories of her first visit here, and her host family, and strangely Sushie;

“ Yeah, I stayed with them, I flew into Washington on Monday, drove down to Richmond and saw them, had a good time, just went to dinner and I stayed over.  They’re one of the best host families I’ve had. He’ll be out here watching tomorrow.  Last year they came out the whole weekend. They have unbelievable sushi there, it’s really fresh and the host just kind of splurges, he gets really good tuna.  I love sushi and it’s the best sushi I’ve had.”

There are fourteen players sitting on -3 under par, so it is a packed leaderboard, maybe tomorrow there will be some separation.

LPGA. Kraft Nabisco Championship. Park Prevails By Three Shots.

Inbee Park prevailed by four shots at the  LPGA, Kraft Nabisco Championship and took the traditional winners plunge into  Poppie’s Pond at the 18th green.

Inbee Park / LPGA

Inbee Park’s four shot win at the Kraft Nabisco Championship has catapulted her to number two in the Rolex World Rankings, just behind Stacy Lewis. Her last round of -3 under par gave her a tournament total of -15 under par. Inbee really wants the number one spot in the rankings;

” That’s the place that I’ve always wanted and I only have one more spot to go. That brings a lot of momentum, keeps momentum going for me, especially after this week. I felt a lot of confidence with my swing and with my putting. Everything has been going the right way this season. It feels good.”

Of the pond plunge at Mission Hills, Inbee said;

 ”It was great, that‘s the pond I’ve always wanted to jump in, and I finally jumped. It was a little bit chilly, though.”

So Yeon Ryu finished in second place at -11 under par, and when asked about her performance, trying to chase down her friend, Inbee, she said;

“Well, it’s hard to say, but I really wanted to finish strong, so I was just expecting to finish top five. I couldn’t expect winning because I know how Inbee is playing really consistently and I know how her putting was great, so I couldn’t expect winning, but I really wanted to finish top five, but I finished second, so I made it. Actually first of all, she really likes to gamble, so when I practice with her she always calls me to gamble like ten bucks a hole, whatever. But she always makes the hardest par putts, like eight‑foot par putts, 16‑foot par putts.  I can’t win like ten bucks.  She always wins like 50 bucks.  She always takes my money, so she always buys me dinner, lunch, whatever. Anyway, the important thing is she looks so easy, and putting is so easy.  Sometimes my putting was really great when I was playing with her, but not enough. I think her tempo is really great, her tempo is always consistent.  And what else?  Oh, and she taught me that when she was putting, the weight is a bit on the left side.  She looks like 70 and 30, and she says, before her weight was like 50/50, but now she changed it, and her weight has moved a bit more to the left side.  She said that’s really helped her putting.”

Tied in third place at -9 under par were Caroline Hedwall and Suzann Petterson. World Amateur number one Lydia Ko finished a disappointing -2 under par and tied in 25th place.

 

Honda LPGA Thailand, Inbee Park Wins

Inbee Park

Inbee Park won the Honda LPGA Thailand by one shot and a total of -12 under par, after local favorite Ariya Jutanugarn lipped out a three-foot putt on the last hole to  suffered a triple bogey, handing the title to Inbee.

Ariya lost concentration when in sight of the finishing line, putting  her second shot on the par five 18th into the front right bunker. She unfortunately had to take a drop and a one-stroke penalty for an unplayable lie. Then hit her fourth shot over the green and with a tricky downhill shot facing her, she left it short with the ball still on the fringe. Her putt, her sixth shot of the hole, slid by and she had about a 3-foot uphill putt left to make for double-bogey in order to force a playoff. The putt rimmed the hole and Ariya sadly tapped in for triple bogey eight which gave Inbee Park the one-shot victory.

Inbee thought she had missed her chance when she missed a birdie putt on the 17 th hole;

” On No. 17 when I missed that birdie putt I thought that this game might be over because she was at 14 under-par and it was a two-stroke lead coming into the last hole. I knew she was a long hitter so she had a chance to go ahead. So yeah I just didn’t expect this kind of finish. Out of all the other wins, this win just felt like it was not as much work this week. It was a lot easier this week for me. But I really want to congratulate Ariya for her fantastic golf the last four days. She has a lot of fans out here and she’s very talented. So I think I’ll be seeing more of her.”

Ariya said that making a hole in one on the par three 12th hole had made her feel full of confidence;

” It just made me feel confident because before that hole I wasn’t very confident. My driver and my irons were not very good. I think after 12 my driver feel OK and my irons like feel better. Just a bad hole on 18.”

World Number One Yani Tseng  tied the tournament record with a -9 under par 63 to finish in a tie for third at -10 under par. Yani is coming back into form, and thinks next week she will start the tournament a little better than her first round effort here;

“Hopefully next week I can start a little earlier and still finish strong, I feel like this is more like me. When I play my best I always finish strong on the weekend but last year at the end, on the weekend, I’m always struggling. But this is what I like to feel, to play aggressive and have fun and relax. Because today I go out there and I try to make birdie every hole.”

Tied in third place with Yani, were So Yeon Ryu, Beatriz Recari and Stacy Lewis, all on -10 under par. Lydia Ko, the World Amateur number one finished the tournament at -5 under par, tied in 14th place.

Honda LPGA Thailand, Its Still Stacy after round Two

Stacy Lewis.

Stacy Lewis maintained her stranglehold three shot lead on the Honda LPGA Thailand event, shooting a second round -3 under par 69 at the  Pattaya Old Course at Siam Country Club.

Stacy admitted this round was not as easy as the first;

” It’s always hard to follow up a really good day, I thought if I could shoot 4 or 5 under that would still be a really solid day. I almost got there but it was kind of up and down. I definitely left a few out there. I didn’t hit it as good today but I made some putts on the back nine and still have a three-shot lead so I can’t complain.”

In second place on her own at -9 under par for the tournament is Ariya Jutanugarin, from Thailand. Ariya had a -6 under par 66 for her second round.

There are three players tied in third place at -8 under par, they are;  South Korean So Yeon Ryu, Scot Catriona Mathew, and Beatriz Recari from Spain.

Lydia Ko, the World Amateur Number One is now eight shots off the pace, tied in ninth place at -4 under par. Lydia will need a really low round tomorrow is she is to get up into the reckoning for this tournament.

Ricoh British Womens Open at Royal Liverpool, Round 1

Haeji Kang and So Yeon Ryu of  South Korea sit at the top of the Ricoh British Womens Open at Royal Liverpool, with opening rounds of -2 under par 70.

In a packed leaderboard there are nine players at -1 under par, among those are  Jiyai Shin, last weeks winner of the LPGA Kingsmill Championship, Karrie Webb, Stacy Keating and Vicky Hurst.

The Worlds number one Amateur 15 year-old Lydia Ko finished with a round of even par, and is very handily placed, there are 17 players on even par at the conclusion of play on day one. Another teenager up with the leaders is sixteen year-old Charley Hull, of England, with a  1-under 71 in the opening round of the $2.5 million Ricoh Women’s Open. Charley has Ian Poulter as one of her mentors, they are members of the Woburn Golf Club. Charley has never met Lydia but has certainly heard of her. She is impressed by what the Kiwi has done, but she reminded everyone not to focus solely on her younger peer.

” There’s a lot more to come from me.”

Charley Hull/getty images

Lydia will fave a big test in the second round, She tees off at 11.40am, and with winds expected to approach 50 miles per hour, the young Kiwi could well face the toughest of the conditions. Her daunting task will be to limit the damage tomorrow and give herself a chance to make the cut and contest the trophy at the weekend.