There’s nothing like capitalizing on momentum.
Esther Henseleit, after her silver-medal performance at the 2024 Paris Olympics last week, managed to keep her fine play going in the wet first round of the ISPS Handa Women’s Scottish Open, firing a 2-under 70.
With the weather wreaking havoc on the players, Henseleit made three bogeys in her first nine holes, but she added three birdies and made no bogeys in her second nine. She also missed just one fairway in the first round.
It was a long opening day for Henseleit, who said her alarm went off at 4:30 a.m. and who didn’t actually finish her day until about 12 hours later due to weather delays in Scotland.
“The first 11 holes in the rain and the wind were pretty brutal. But I managed to keep it together and fight the weather a bit,” Henseleit said. “It was definitely easier when we went back out. I managed to hole some putts and hit some shots close. I finished with three birdies on the back nine, which was fun.”
Henseleit, who shot the second-lowest round of the day in the final round at Le Golf National to zip up the leaderboard and into the second place on the podium, said she spent the last two days practicing and re-charging her batteries. With a smile, she said she had hoped for a shorter day to open the tournament but was “pretty happy” with her performance.
The first round will not be completed Thursday due to the weather delays, but Henseleit has found herself in a solid position heading into the next few days – just two back of the early lead. She has notched three top-10 finishes so far this season, two of which came at The Chevron Championship (7) and The Amundi Evian Championship (T7).
Henseleit did bring her Olympic hardware with her this week to Scotland –she said it’s back at her house for the week and not in her bag with her –but the other thing she brought along to Scotland was a boatload of confidence, which will be a big help this week and at the AIG Women’s Open next week as she works to contend for her first LPGA Tour title.
“Seeing how I played last week under pressure assured me that I'm doing the right things in practice,” Henseleit said. “I feel like this week is completely different, just the weather conditions, the course conditions are completely different. But I'm just trying to keep the momentum going and (will) try to have another good week or two.”
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