Inbee Park will lead the way after 66 on the first day of the Kia Classic in California. Mel Reid and Stephanie Meadow are just two off the distance, but Michelle Wie West had a problem when she returned to LPGA.
By Keith Jackson
Last updated: 26/03/21 1:58 am
Mel Reid is two off the lead after round one
Mel Reid and Stephanie Meadow got off to a strong start on the Kia Classic as Michelle Wie West sadly returned to the LPGA tour after two years off.
Reid and Meadow opened with four-under-68s to find the early Inbee Park leader with two hits after opening day, but Wie couldn’t pick up a birdie at the opening hole because she couldn’t 80 to break in its first competitive round since the 2019 KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.
Park was one of just four players to introduce a non-floating card on the first day in Carlsbad, California, and the seven-time main champion made four birdies in six midfield holes before sending 17 innings. another in 66 who took the lead completely ahead of Hyo Joo Kim, who boosted her 67 with bogeys at the first and last hole.
Reid made an early mistake at the second, but that was her only sadness of the day when she responded with immediate back-to-back birdies and picked up three more hits on the nine in, and made for good to save par from 20 feet eventually dripping with water hazard from the tee.
“I think my par of 18 probably stands out the most,” said Reid, who won her maiden LPGA title at the ShopRite Classic last October. “I like to hit it right and I don’t know how it didn’t go in the water. I was so in danger.
“Somehow I got it on the green, put it out 20 feet past and grabbed it for par, so there’s nowhere in which I should have par made the I was nowhere near that hole, which is probably what stands out the most.
“I missed maybe three or four putts from within 10 feet, but we did good putts too. I don’t know. It was just some kind of weightless golf, which is nice around here.”
Stephanie Meadow matched Reid’s 68
Reid’s scoreboard was similar to Reid’s with a bogey at the second balanced by five birdies including three in a row from the sixth, and she was thrilled with her performance in blustery conditions at Golf Club Aviara.
“The wind definitely picked up on the back side,” Meadow said. “I made a bird first one, which is always nice, but kind of kicked back with a bogey on two. But then there were three in a row and I got a chance to get to eighth in two today which was the snout birdie two-putt.
“And it was just a bit solid at the back, I gave myself a few chances, but the wind is definitely very important here. I feel like you hit good golf scenes you get a reward, and if you don’t you get that hit it in the fair way it’s a huge penalty here, so that kind of plays into the strength of my game.
“It’s a really beautiful walk, it’s an elegant golf course, and it’s easy to be happy out there I think.”
Michelle Wie West was the first, but struggled to 81
The Solheim Cup star Bronte Law also resisted the difficult circumstances of shooting an honorary under-71, but it was a difficult day for Charley Hull and Georgia Hall.
Hull doubled on the first and fired another shot at the third before going on to return 76, with Hall two strokes worse after opening day.
Wie, meanwhile, was all laughing after birdie at first before things got sore as the wind gathered strength, the former U.S. Open champion piled up eight bogs and one double bog in it. the 81 disappointments.
“It was a difficult situation to come back from, but there are no apologies,” she said. “I’m really taking out a lot of the positive stuff, and there was a lot of it. It wasn’t like it, but I’m excited, I’m thankful to be back out here, thankful that I’ll have another day tomorrow to sort of get my game ready for the ANA next week. “