Tiffany Joh sits at (-14) through 36 holes at Thornberry Creek, a new career record through two rounds for the 8-year LPGA veteran.
It’s a payoff that has been long in the making this season for the San Diego native, as she looked to mix up her team after finishing 81st on the money list last year. She brought in her good friend Adam Porzak from her junior golf days to change her swing.
“At the beginning of the year, the swing changes weren’t taking yet. This week, I’m seeing the fruits of my labor from this offseason.”
For her career, Joh has made 60% of her cuts. This year, she’s made 36% of them through 11 events. For dealing with the short-term pain of the swing change, Joh has eaten a lot of HARIBO gummy bears as she waited for her adjustments to take hold.
Waiting for the confidence to develop with the swing change has required a lot of patience, a virtue Joh doesn’t find as difficult as others on the LPGA Tour.
“It’s nice that our season is so long, with so many events, and so many opportunities, it’s actually not as hard to stay patient as people think. Every week you have another opportunity.”
She found the confidence under the windy conditions at the Shoprite LPGA Classic, where she carded an opening round 67 en route to a season best T11 finish.
Those results have translated to trading the gummies for birdies at Thornberry Creek. She’s posted 14 birdies and played bogey free golf heading into the weekend.
In particular, Joh has owned the front nine. She’s 10-under on the opening side, with five birdies from the third through the seventh vaulting her up the leaderboard. Yet when she starts off Saturday afternoon, Joh won’t get ahead of herself.
“I’ve played golf long enough to know that you’ve never really figured this game out.”
Joh is chasing her first career victory.
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