Mika Miyazato of Japan made a late afternoon surge to take the first-round lead at the Kingsmill Championship Presented by JTBC. The 26-year old shot 6-under 65 and holds a one-shot lead over defending champion Minjee Lee and American Brittany Lincicome. Eight players including Gerina Piller, Sei Young Kim and Sandra Gal are tied for fourth and just two shots back.
Miyazato started her day on the back nine and turned in 30 with five birdies and no bogeys through her first nine holes. She had a string of four-consecutive birdies on Nos. 15-18 before making the turn.
“Course condition was pretty wet, and last two days with so much rain, so that’s why it’s so wet,” said Miyazato. “But I tried to be more aggressive so that’s why maybe I played very well today.”
She picked up her lone bogey of the day on the par 5 third hole but made up for it with birdies on No. 6 and No. 8 to get to 6-under and to take the outright lead. She said a conversation with her mental coach last night helped her stay positive throughout the round.
“I was more focused on one shot at a time. I talked to -- I spoke last night with my mental coach, so like the last three months, four months, I did not enjoy golf, so I tried to I enjoy golf this week, and he said, one shot at a time, more detail, so I tried to be more detailed today, so that’s why it works good.”
Defending champion Minjee Lee had a solid start to her first career title defense and opened with a 5-under 66. She was bogey-free through 17 holes and got to 6-under par with a birdie on the 17th hole but missed her short par putt on 18 to drop to 5-under. Asked if she was nervous to start the day as defending champion, the 19-year old said she has felt pretty calm all week with the distinction.
“I mean, not really,” said Lee. “I felt pretty calm the whole week, but just on the tee I felt a little nerves and more excitement that they said that I was the defending champion, so that was pretty cool, and it’s nice to hear that.”
Two-time major champ Brittany Lincicome came into the week with low expectations. Her round of 66 was her best round of the season since she posted a 65 in the final round of the season-opening event in the Bahamas in January.
“I just came in wanting just to play well and shoot under par again,” said Lincicome. “It seems like something that should come so naturally for someone who does this for a living, but it just hasn’t been happening lately.”
GOOD DAY FOR LINCICOME
Brittany Lincicome has recorded just one top-10 this season, a tie for eighth at the season opener in the Bahamas, and when asked if today was some of the better golf she has played this year, the six-time LPGA winner did not hesitate.
“Above and beyond,” said Lincicome. “Good to talk to you guys, which hasn’t happened I don’t think at all this year, so it’s nice. Like I said, the putter hasn’t really been working all year. I’ve been driving it really well, hitting the irons pretty good I felt, and just today I think I had 27 or 28 putts, which obviously any time you have putts in the 20s is good.”
This year marks Lincicome’s ninth appearance in Williamsburg and she hasn’t exactly performed well at the River Course. Her round of 66 on Thursday tied her career-low round her which she shot also in the first round in 2007. The 30-year old from Florida is currently ranked 24th in the Rolex Rankings and just on the outside looking in on earning a spot on the American UL International Crown team and a spot for Team USA at the Summer Olympics.
“No, I am, of course. Obviously there’s a lot of big events here coming up,” said Lincicome. “Every time I see where I am on the Money List right now, it’s obviously very disappointing. It’s not normally where I am. But I’ve been hitting the ball so well. Just obviously the putting just needs to kind of come around. I thought about changing putters there for a while, and of course you have like one good day, and you’re like, okay, maybe it’s not the putter. Then it kind of goes back again. So it’s kind of a -- I don’t know what the deal is.”
BRITTANY LINCICOME - RECORD AT KINGSMILL CHAMPIONSHIP
| YEAR | SCORES | FINISH |
|---|---|---|
| 2015 | 69-71-71-77=288 | T72 |
| 2014 | 69-72-73-71=285 | 45 |
| 2013 | 75-69-71-70=285 | T28 |
| 2012 | 73-71=144 | CUT |
| 2009 | 74-69-69-79=291 | T63 |
| 2008 | 74-79=153 | CUT |
| 2007 | 66-71-72-76=285 | T29 |
| 2006 | 74-70-70-70=284 | T23 |
| 2005 | 69-73-75-77=294 | T56 |
TOUGH START FOR TOP-3
The featured pairing of the top-3 players in the world didn’t serve as many fireworks as probably expected. Lydia Ko (+2), Inbee Park (+3) and Lexi Thompson (+1) struggled on Thursday at the River Course and have some work to do to make up ground on the rest of the field.
Players played lift, clean and place during the first round and Ko said it was the surprisingly very quick greens and hole locations that was the challenge.
“It wasn’t like we were playing with any mud balls,” said Ko. “Just on the greens was the toughest part out there. Not easiest pin positions, and even if you’re 15, 12 feet, you could be running it three, four feet by. That’s how fast the greens were. Obviously the superintendents have been doing an awesome job trying to keep the greens in great condition.”
Ko said she didn’t notice the pairing until someone pointed it out to her and that she hopes they get to turn things around on Friday.
“I saw the pairing and I didn’t realize it until somebody mentioned it to me, so it’s a pretty cool pairing,” said Ko.
“Hopefully tomorrow all of us will be able to shoot under par and have even more of a good time, but just personally, I didn’t feel like I was playing really bad out there. Just a couple or three shots I was giving away. We still had a pretty good time. Obviously if we play better tomorrow, then it will be even better.”
LEADERBOARD LOOKER
Laetitia Beck admitted after her opening round 67 that she gets nerves seeing her name at the top of the leaderboard. The second-year Tour player from Israel got to 6-under par and took the outright lead after her second eagle of the day on the par 5 15th hole. But after seeing her name out in front on an on-course scoreboard, she followed it up with back-to-back bogeys on 16 and 17. She closed with a tough par on the last to stay at 4-under and one shot back. She said might re-think looking at leaderboards.
“I do. I probably shouldn’t. Or I should work on that,” said Beck. “But again, it’s just part of the learning experience and just being able to be in this position. It’s really exciting, and I’m glad that I can see myself up there.”
Beck held the outright first-round lead at the Tour’s last event in Alabama at the Yokohama LPGA Classic and said staying in good position throughout an entire event is something she knows will come with experience for her.
“For me it’s my second year. I’m just gaining experience,” said Beck. “Obviously I become super nervous when I see that I’m leading, but it’s part of the process, and it’s only going to make me better for the future. So I enjoy seeing myself leading, and it’s the only way for me to practice pressure, so that’s why I really am -- even though I didn’t finish so well today, just another opportunity to get better and learn from it.”
THE POWER OF BANANA BREAD
Four times Tiffany Joh has played the River Course at Kingsmill Resort and four times she has not played on the weekend. This is not a course she has played well on so when the six year veteran of the LPGA was setting her schedule during this busy three month stretch, the Kingsmill Championship was one she was thinking of not playing.
“I was actually talking to my host dad yesterday because I stay off of like hole 7 or something here on the course, and with the big stretch coming up, this was probably going to be the one I was going to take off just because I’ve never played well here, but honestly, I was like, yeah, but every year I go there and my host gets me this banana bread that’s really good,” Joh said. “That was honestly the deciding factor.”
Joh stays with a host family in Williamsburg and her host dad, Bob Armstrong, and his friend Sandy once again gave Tiffany the gift of a delicious banana bread. She responded with an opening round 68 (-3) today.
“It was the banana bread, and this year they gave me three loaves. Regardless of what happened today, it was a win,” Joh explained.
QUOTABLES
“But yeah, I’m typically a morning person. I’m kind of an all-the-time person; let’s be honest.” -Tiffany Joh being asked if she’s a morning person. She was off in the first group at 7:00am on Thursday
“The greens were faster this year than I’ve ever seen them in my life. I think they were faster than any other stop on Tour this year, so that was obviously something I had to adjust to when I got out there because I couldn’t be as aggressive as I wanted to be, so I figured it out early and had some birdies, which was fun.” -Brittany Lincicome on adjusting to the green speed
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