After Dewi Weber rattled off seven consecutive birdies in the opening round of the Portland Classic she described her day as “really bad.”
At least that’s how she says it started, anyway.
Weber says she spent much of the day at Columbia Edgewater Country Club trying to fix her swing. Weber began her round on the second nine and was one over on her first nine holes with an unwieldy swing that left her in what she described as “crafty positions” around the tight, heavily tree-lined course. Weber missed just a single fairway, but was wayward with her irons and failed to find five greens, which forced her to rely heavily on her short game. That’s the part of Weber’s game that she says saved her round as she fought to find her swing.
“For me today it was just kind of like, all right, it's not going the way I want it to,” Weber said about the tough start to her day. “As cliche as it sounds, just take it one step at a time, try and fix my swing in the middle of the course, which is never a fun thing to do.”
Weber says she hit good shots into her eighth and ninth holes of the day, the 17th and 18th holes at Columbia Edgewater, and as she made the turn in 37 thought she had found some momentum. But then, she missed her first fairway of the day at the first hole, her 10th of the day, where she scrambled to make a four and get away with a par.
That’s when Weber caught fire.
“As poorly as I was hitting it, just committing to those target lines, committing to those shots, instead of trying to force the ball somewhere,” Weber explained about her turnaround. “As I kept doing that, which for me is like kind of a mental battle, I started to get a little bit better and better and better, and all of a sudden I was hitting it fine.”
Weber knocked it close at the par 3, second hole, and converted the putt for her first birdie of the day. She did the same at the third hole. And again at the fourth, and fifth, and sixth.
“Like I got in a really good rhythm with my putter and my swing started to get a little bit better every time,” Weber said about her run of birdies. “All of a sudden we were six under.”
Weber grinded her way, shot by shot, recording seven consecutive birdies on her second nine to card a round of six-under par, 66. The record for most birdies in a row belongs to Beth Daniel and Amy Yang who each made nine consecutive birdies during their careers.
The stellar round comes in just Weber’s second start on the LPGA Tour in 2024. Since joining the Tour in 2022, Weber lost full playing privileges and has been competing this season on the Epson Tour, where she has four top 10s already this year. Weber’s round of 66 is her lowest in three starts at Columbia Edgewater.
“I've always loved this course. I love Portland, but the course is just fun,” Weber said on Thursday. “It suits me, too. I mean, go figure.”
Weber planned to hit the range after her round for 20 - 30 minutes to try and replicate that feeling she was able to find with her swing midway through her round in order to make sure she would be able to have that same vibe on Friday. Then, she planned to grab some food and call it a day, content with the full day of work she’d already put in.
“Honestly, that's it for me today,” Weber said after a challenging day at the office.)
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