– A par this Thursday on the Cattail course at the Whirlwind Golf Club in Arizona was little short of a drama. Calling it a festival of birdies is an understatement. Maybe birdie frenzy would be more accurate. Lydia Ko (-12) leads the tournament after flirting with the fabled 59, Hyo Joo Kim (-11) is close behind and not far off in third is Nelly Korda (-9). To make the top 10 you had to get to -7 and the provisional cut is at -3, which means that tomorrow, if conditions remain the same, it could move to -6. Crazy.
– Lydia Ko said after finishing the round that a 59 crossed her mind. She didn’t really have it fully in range, since she finished with four birdies in the last five holes, including two on the final two, but it’s curious that the only hole in that sequence where she didn’t score was the par-5. Such was her display that she never went more than two holes without making a birdie all round. Like something out of a movie. Obviously her putter performed at an extraordinary level. Curiously, she was using a new model this Thursday. At least we can be sure it will remain in the bag tomorrow.
– The Spanish players haven’t been able to keep up the birdie pace required on a day like today. That said, Carla Tejedo (-4) has had a very good start. Another great round from the Castellón native, who continues to progress at breakneck speed. She nailed it in her first-ever round on the LPGA Tour last week, got through the always-difficult moving day while in the upper part of the leaderboard, didn’t take a step back on Sunday in the final round despite then having much more to lose than to gain, and now she does it wonderfully again in the opening round of the next tournament. Neither pressure nor euphoria seems to faze the brave golfer from Castellón, a product of the Costa Azahar academy.
– There are few complaints to be made about Carla’s magnificent round. She made four birdies, three of them on par-5s, and no bogeys. However, given the scoring pace this Thursday, her result doesn’t stand out much. It does little more than put her in contention for a spot in the top 30. In any case, for yet another week she is the top Spanish player in the LPGA Tour event.
– Further back are Julia López (-3), Carlota Ciganda (-2), Carla Bernat (PAR) and Carolina Chacarra (+2). For the first two, a start like that would have been good in almost any other week of the year, but not this one. They are far from the lead, with many players ahead and forced to keep one eye on the cut. The simple reason the Spanish players didn’t finish higher: with the exception of Tejedo, none have putted really well. Carolina’s case was a drama (36 putts, compared with 25, for example, from Lydia Ko, or the 24 from Hyo Joo Kim), but Julia (30), Carlota (32) and Carla (33) weren’t much better. Tejedo had 27. There lay the difference.
– Only 20 of 144 players played over par. Perfect conditions and a course that tends to play short, which yields quite a few eagles. This week there is no option but to go full throttle to avoid being left behind
