Hyemin Kim (Seoul, South Korea) grinded through rainy and cold conditions in Saturday’s first-round to post a season-low 5-under, 67 at Windsor Golf Club to grab the POC Med Golf Classic lead into Sunday’s final-round. Kim made seven birdies and will go for her first career win Sunday. Kim has a two shot cushion on Daniela Darquea (Quito, Ecuador), who ranks third on the Volvik Race for the Card money list. Marita Engzelius (Oslo, Norway), Lindsey Weaver (Bellefontaine, Ohio) and Benyapa Niphatsophon (Bangkok, Thailand) share third place at 2-under, 70.
There are 11 players within four shots of the lead. Only 16 players finished even-par or better.
After Friday’s round was washed out due to two inches of overnight rain, play began on Saturday morning at 7:30 a.m. Kim tee’d off at 9:09 in the morning and played most of the round in scattered rain showers and temperatures barely peaking over 50-degrees.
Kim started with a birdie and a bogey and then made three birdies over the final seven holes on her outward nine. She made back-to-back birdies on holes two and three to start her inward nine to climb to 5-under. She made another birdie on six to get to 6-under, but made bogey on seven before making two pars to finish.
“I tried hard, but I didn’t really expect to go this low,” said Kim, who missed the cut in her last two starts. “In the beginning, it was really raining hard so I just tried to stay in position and make pars, but I started to make some putts and that gave me more confidence.”
The highlight of the day came on the second hole when Kim drained a 35-foot birdie from the front of the green.
Kim attacked the pins all day, peppering 17 of 18 greens in regulation.
“Attacking the pins is why I played really well today,” said Kim, who finished T12 to start the season and has five career top 10’s on the Epson Tour. “This was my best round of the year and I’m really excited for tomorrow.”
Kim recently finished one shot short of qualifying for the Kia Classic last month and compared the 18-hole qualifier to how she is approaching this shortened event.
The 28-year-old said her goal is to keep the same attitude she had on course today.
“I would of course love to win the tournament tomorrow,” said Kim. “I think I’ll just be happy if I can keep shooting low scores like 68 or 69. If I shoot a score like that, even if I don’t win, I will be happy with the result.”
Before coming to the United States in 2012, Kim played on the KLPGA for one season.
FORMER SONOMA STATE STAR GETS IN AT LAST SECOND AND POSTS 74
Former Sonoma State All-American Spencer Warne (formerly Heller) of Turlock, Calif. was the 30th alternate entering the week, but got into the tournament Saturday and carded a 2-over, 74 to stand in a tie for 23rd.
“I had a few 3-woods and 7-woods into holes so it was hard to get up and down, but I made a couple birdies to get it back,” said Warne, who was 3-over after her first nine holes and played the back in 1-under. “I’m very thankful to get in because I applied for a sponsors exemption and they narrowed it down to one so I didn’t get the exemption. I knew I was going to come on site and see if I could work my way in and it worked out.”
Warne won seven times while at Sonoma State and finished in the top 10 in 40-of-50 career starts.
“It is really cool that they brought an event to this area,” said Warne, who now lives in the Phoenix area. “It was great because I had quite a following of my family and friends. It really felt like I was playing on my home turf.”
Windsor Golf Club was not Sonoma State’s home golf course, but they did qualifying at the course from time-to-time. Her husband Steven played at Santa Rosa JC and their home course was Windsor Golf Club.
“He definitely gave me some insight on where to leave the ball,” said Warne. “I had that in the back of my mind today.”
STANFORD COMMIT LIU JUST THANKFUL FOR OPPORTUNITY
Mika Liu (a), the No. 23 ranked amateur in the world, posted a 3-over, 75 on day one. Liu is in the field as a contractual invite as her father, Dr. Liu, a principal in POC Medical Systems, is the title sponsor of the tournament.
“I’m just really grateful for the Epson Tour that they provide this stage for players to gain experience before they move up to the LPGA,” said the 18-year-old Liu. “I’m so grateful for my dad because he is so involved in golf and always supporting me.”
Dr. Liu was on the bag for his daughter on Saturday.
Liu, who won the 2015 USGA Women’s Amateur Four Ball, is headed to Stanford in the Fall of 2017.
“I’m really excited to go to Stanford because of the diversity and how liberal they think and how forward thinking they are,” said Liu. “I can’t wait to get there.”
Liu, who tee’d at 8:03 a.m., dealt with the worst of the weather and was really pleased with how she battled. She was 5-over after her first seven holes and played the final 11 holes in 2-under.
“I’m really happy with my round on the back nine,” said Liu. “My dad and I were playing safe and I just focused on making pars.”
IOA CHAMPIONSHIP WINNER GOES LOW, FINDS SUPRISE CADDY
Daniela Darquea (Quito, Ecuador) has been the top rookie on Tour this year. She won the IOA Championship and ranks third on the Volvik Race for the Card money list. She posted a very impressive bogey-free 3-under, 69 to put herself in contention for a second victory.
Darquea arrived at the course an hour and 20 minutes before her tee time and grabbed a bite to eat. She then proceeded to head to the range and then it started to pour.
“I left the range and went to the pro shop to wait for it to stop,” said Darquea. “I then just putted a bit and went to the tee, I didn’t want to get too wet before the round.”
Darquea was honest about the conditions early in her round.
“It was hard to even hit the ball because it was really, really cold, my hands were freezing,” said Darquea. “I was just trying to hit it as far and straight as I could. The course played so long. I was going to hit a hybrid on 11 today, but I had to hit a driver. It played very different.”
Darquea hit 12 of 14 fairways and needed just 28 putts.
“It was a really good round,” said Darquea. “I’m just hoping for some good weather tomorrow.”
Darquea’s caddy, Teo Malo, is from a small town in Ecuador called Cuenta and is a family friend. He is now studying and attending high school in the area.
“He called me and was like ‘I’m studying here (Windsor) now, do you need a caddy?’ and I knew having a caddy would help a lot,” explained Darquea. “He is so funny so he kept me laughing all round.”
SANTA ANA NATIVE POSTS 71, NEARLY LOSES 58-DEGREE WEDGE
Desiree Dubreuil (Santa Ana, Calif.) was scrambling this morning when she realized her 58-degree wedge was missing from her bag.
Two days ago, she left her 58-degree wedge on the chipping green at Windsor Golf Club. Since she didn’t come to the course on Friday, she didn’t realize it was missing until this morning and sent her mom on a scavenger hunt to try and find it. Her mom eventually found the wedge before the round.
She carded a 1-under, 71 and is in a tie for sixth.
“I actually used it a few times today including once to get up-and-down so it saved me at least a stroke,” said Dubreuil. “I know my mom was freaking out trying to help me find it, but I knew it was here.”
Dubreuil made two birdies and one bogey and lipped out for birdie on her final hole.
“It was better than I could have ever asked for today,” said Dubreuil about her round. “The conditions were pretty brutal to be honest, it was 40 degrees when I got here and I did just a small warm up with the weather.”
Dubreuil was thankful to get into her first event of the year this week and is hoping for a big finish to earn enough money to get reshuffled.
OF NOTE
• Former Stanford All-Americans Lauren Kim and Mariah Stackhouse both are in the mix after round one. Kim carded a 1-under, 71 and stands in a tie for sixth while Stackhouse posted a 2-over, 74 and is T23.
• Sophia Popov (Heidelberg, Germany) birdied two of her final three holes to post a 1-under, 71.
• Stephanie Kono (Honolulu, Hawaii) started her day 4-over after six holes and finished 1-under for the round. She birdied six of her final 12 holes.
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