UPDATE: Round 1 was suspended due to darkness at 8:33 p.m. EDT. Round 1 will resume at 6:45 a.m. and Round 2 will begin at 7 a.m., with all Round 2 tee times delayed 15 minutes.
Yang Once Again In The Hunt
Amy Yang knows the drill.
When she arrived for her post-round press conference on Thursday to breakdown her opening round, 67, Yang came ready to review the birdies and bogeys that made up her day. It’s certainly not the first and hardly the last time the Korean has done a post-mortem on her day at a major championship. She posted her 16th career top-10 in a major championship two weeks ago at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. But after watching her idol win the U.S. Women’s Open at Blackwolf Run in 1998, it’s become the championship Yang wants most to win.
“I’ll keep trying,” Yang said with a smile. “I’m playing good, played good lately and I’m hitting the ball solid and making some putts.”
Just as she said at Olympia Fields, Yang remains committed to the routine that earned her more than a dozen top-10s in majors in hopes this will be the week she earns her first major victory.
“I think it is maybe most important being patient out there,” said the two-time U.S. Women’s Open runner-up. “I know the course will be tough out there and things not going to go like way you think.”
Yang is making her 11th appearance in the U.S. Women’s Open.
Feeling the Heat
Many golfers choose to head straight to the range after their round, but for World No. 1 So Yeon Ryu a rest is the order of the day.
The heat today is just another factor that the best female golfers in the world will have to deal with, on top of the challenging layout at Trump National. However, Ryu has a plan to combat the heat this week.
Ryu said: “I'm pretty happy with everything today. It was really humid and hot this morning. My energy is pretty low this morning. Sometimes better to rest than a lot of practice. I'm play planning to have a plenty of rest and fully charged and ready to go tomorrow again.
“I just drink a lot of water. Try to get an umbrella as much as I can. Try to stay in the shade. Try not to think too much. Try to concentrate all the time. I just need to like save energy. When I hit the ball, I really focus on everything. When I'm walking or something, I just try to have fun.”
Despite the heat, Ryu shot an impressive four-under-par, 68.
Scrambling Saves Lexi
You don’t always have to be accurate off the tee to post a good score at a major championship, as long as you can rely on your scrambling skills to keep you on the right side of par.
Just ask Lexi Thompson. The World No.3 hit just five of 14 fairways today, but still managed to shoot one-under-par, to remain in the top half of the field.
“I never am complaining with an under-par round in the U.S. Women's Open. I left a little ball-striking out there. I'm very happy with the way I scrambled and made a few solid par putts. Hit a few good spots in the second nine and go into tomorrow with a positive attitude.
“I would say off the tee (was bothering me). I think I hit like four fairways. I struggled a little bit off the tee but, like I said, I'm very happy with the way I scrambled and played my right shots into the greens knowing that they were going to come out a bit different out of the rough.”
Lag Putting the Key for Brooke
Brooke Henderson shot a bogey free, two-under-par round of 70 to begin her U.S. Open title challenge in New Jersey.
Any bogey free round at a U.S. Open Championship is one to be respected, but even more so when you factor in the intense heat and strengthening winds that today’s round brought.
“You know, I'm hitting the ball really well. I feel like my lag putting has really kicked in to be a lot better than it was at the beginning of the year. With those two combinations, I feel like I'm confident on longer par-4s and par 3s, which is always a good feeling.
“The scores, some were really low out there. I imagine some are not so low. It's a really tough golf course. I'm happy with 2-under and hopefully I can repeat that tomorrow.”
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