WEST CALDWELL, N.J. — “It feels like a major,” has been the sentiment from players all week at this year’s Mizuho Americas Open. A scheduled rotation, due to the PGA TOUR hosting an event at Liberty National next year, opened the door for a new kind of test for the LPGA at Mountain Ridge—and it’s paying off.
After walking the course early in the week and then speaking with a few players, I must admit that I was a bit surprised to see just how low scores were on Thursday with Andrea Lee setting the tone at 6-under par.
The putting surfaces are fast, the fall off on some the of the green complexes are steep, and the pin placements are borderline sadistic. Just look at this putt that Hannah Gregg, who competes primarily on the LET circuit had during the Monday qualifier. Gregg said only breathed on the ball and it ran nearly 20 yards off the green.
Insanity.
Even with some moderate to heavy rain on Wednesday, the course was playing firm and fast on Thursday. Lee, who for the first time in her career held the outright lead after the first round at an LPGA event, was also a bit shocked to see her stats. “I really didn’t see 6-under today to be honest, so I’m quite pleased that,” she said in her post-round presser. “The game plan going into it was just staying really patient, trying to hit as many greens and fairways as possible, and just know that pars is good score and trying to minimize bogeys.”
It was a rather clinical day for the Stanford grad, who hit every fairway and only missed two greens all day.
Lydia Ko, powered by her NYC coffee claw clip also made some moves Thursday afternoon, carding an opening round of 65, that included two bogeys and an eagle!
She went off early for her second round, making some early bogeys but remains in contention at 4-under par.
As for the marquee player this week and tournament host Michelle Wie West, it was a tough day in the office for her first competitive round in nearly three years, carding a brutal 10-over par round of 82.
After the fact, she said that her game and this course took her to some dark and grim places on Thursday. “Golf can take you places, and I went places today. But, you know, you got to see the big picture at the end of the day. I’m so proud of what we built here…I think if you look at my round, I think the one takeaway that you can get from that is these girls out here are amazing. They make these golf courses look a lot easier than they actually are.”
But I will say, it felt kind of surreal to see Wie West back out there, with her husband Jonnie on the bag. I wasn’t at Pebble Beach three years ago, so the last time I saw the 2014 U.S. Women’s Open Champion play was when I was a little girl, well over a decade ago. So to be able to talk to her about her golf this week has felt pretty full circle.
I followed Wie West as she was ending her round and what I saw was a gutsy competitor who still has a desire to be the best she can be, despite being out of the saddle for a bit. The countdown to see her at Riv is so on.
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