LOS ANGELES – Yang Liu birded the final three holes in chilly conditions for shares of his first round lead with Ashleeve High at the 9-under 63 and the LPGA Tour JM Eagle LA Championship Thursday afternoon.
With temperatures reaching just 60 degrees at the El Caballero Country Club, Liu overcomes the opening bogey and plays the next 9-year-old and makes a 6-foot Eagle putt with the PAR-5 16th and 5 birdies.
“I got my bogey and the next hole. “Yeah, talk to yourself.”
After a straight five par, she birded a par 5 seeds and made short birdie putts on the 8th and 9th. In pursuit of her first LPGA Tour victory, the 27-year-old Chinese player had the lowest score of her tour career.
“Everything is perfect, but not my driver,” Li said. “But it’s a bit of a problem. My driver is fading a little too much right now, but I’ll know tomorrow.”
Buhai had nine birdies in the morning round without bogies. The 35-year-old South African player won the 2022 Women’s British Open, the first of her two LPGA Tour victory.
“The pin was in a place that was accessible today, as long as we used the slopes properly,” Buhai said. “If you hit the right bowl, you get good results, otherwise you can easily cut yourself short.”
Frida Kinhult birded the final three holes of 64 in the second group of the first tee.
The tournament is being held at El Caballero for renovations at the Wilshire Country Club. I’ll be back in Wilshire next season.
Madelene Sagstrom, who won the T-Mobile Match Play in Las Vegas two weeks ago, was closed with Hall One to join Gee Chun, Miranda Wang, Jeongeun Lee6 and Jenny Shin at 65.
“It’s odd because I actually got to see it,” said Sagstrom, who played in the morning with top-ranked Nelly Korda and two-time defending champion Hanna Green. “That’s the best part. You can see it in.”
Young is not 66 years old. Lauren Cofflin, Adity Ashok, Aqui Iwai, Saki Baba and Ya Liu.
Korda opened in Houston next week with a final start before title defense at the Major Chevron Championship.
“I hit 18 of the 18 greens, so my bogey was three putts, but it made one in the final hole. “But other than that, it was really solid from the tee in the green.”
Four of the top five in the world rankings play final events on the West Coast swing. Second-rank Jeeno Thitikul overcomes a slow double bogey with the Eagle at 68pm, with No. 4 Lilia Vu and No. 5 Green skipping the event with No. 69 Lydia Ko, respectively.
California teenager Astary Tully shot 69 and played with sponsor exemption. She was runner-up in Augusta National Women’s Amateur. Last year, she was second in the US women’s junior El Carrero.