Mozo Takes Lead with Ace in New Zealand

Belen Mozo was hardly recognizable.

Friday, the Spaniard wore a pair of oversized, black-rimmed glasses reminiscent of Clark Kent, who went incognito when he wasn’t saving the world as Superman. 

But there was no concealing Mozo, whose super performance on Friday sent her soaring to the top of the leaderboard at the MCKAYSON New Zealand Women’s Open.  She went out in 31 to take the outright lead and then pulled off one of golf’s most exciting feats with an ace at the par 3, 13th hole. She jarred a 7-iron from 150 yards and bubbled over with excitement when the ball found the hole. Mozo ran over and kissed the car on display and extended her lead to five. Unfortunately, the INFINITI is only up for grabs this weekend, but Mozo took the news in stride.

“It is karma,” Mozo joked with the media. “The last hole-in-one I found out someone had got one just before me so I missed the prize. This one the car is for the weekend. It is my fifth hole-in-one in competition.”

Mozo followed her ace with her seventh birdie of the day. Her only mistake came at the par three, 17th hole where she made double bogey, which cut her lead to four. But she bounced back with a birdie at the last to card an eight-under par, 64 to set a new personal best and post the low round of the Tournament. At 14-under par, Mozo leads by five-strokes ahead of rookies Madelene Sagstrom and Emily Tubert, and major champion Brooke Henderson. 

“When you score like this, everything seems so easy. I got perfect weather but you still have to perform well,” Mozo said. “I played really easy golf and left myself very makeable putts. I struck the ball really well and overall I was in a very calm state of mind.”

Mozo is in unfamiliar territory as she looks to pick up her first win this weekend at Windross Farm. Since joining the Tour in 2011, Mozo has just four career top-10s and tonight will sleep on the lead for the first time on Tour. While she has yet to crack the top-20 in 2017, Mozo has an opportunity to transform not only her season, but also her career, with a win on Sunday. 

Tubert has undergone a transformation of her own this year. With a new instructor and new caddie on her bag, Tubert posted a second round seven-under par, 65, her career low round on the LPGA Tour. 

“It is my best in a while,” Tubert said after her round. “It has been a frustrating few years so it is nice to see a low score out there. My caddie told me to be patient after the slow start and it would be a matter of time before they started to drop.” 

This week's solid start is part of an upswing for Tubert, who has struggled in the professional ranks since graduating from the University of Arkansas. After a two-year stint without a win on the Epson Tour, the 2010 U.S. Women’s Amateur Public Links champion earned status on the LPGA Tour at the 2016 qualifying tournament. Without a top-10 this season and five consecutive missed cuts over the summer, Tubert hit her breaking point in Portland, where she connected with instructor Kevin Craggs.

“I was in tears, frustrated with golf and the year and everything. Just incredibly frustrating and hopeless,” said Tubert. “The girl that showed up in Portland was a different girl. All of a sudden there’s hope, there’s excitement and there’s purpose to what I’m doing and it’s refreshing.” 

Tubert is also three-weeks into a new partnership with caddie Danny Stout, who worked with the PGA Tour’s Robert Allenby. He has been a great asset for Tubert in reinforcing what she’s working on with Craggs when the two aren’t able to connect in person. 

“[Craggs] has given me practice structure and understanding of where my swing needs to be,” Tubert said. “I think the biggest thing is just the information and then empowering me to then own it. I haven’t quite owned it on the course, like it’s easier to do on the range, but it’s getting better.”

The cut line fell at one-over par, sending home notables Mariah Stackhouse (+2), Angela Stanford (+3) and Olafia Kristinsdottir (+6).