Evergreen South African golf star Lee-Anne Pace is the surprise leader after the first round of the LPGA Series’ PGA Championship in the USA.
The 42-year-old Pace turned back the clock on the difficult Baltusrol course on Thursday afternoon in Springfield in New Jersey and, thanks to great putting, scored the birdies to end up with a score of 66 shots – five shots less than the par – a lead of one shot. take.
Canadian Brooke Henderson and Chinese Ruoning Yin and Xiyu Lin are the players closest to Pace at 67, followed by Thai star Wichanee Meechai at 68.
A group of six players, including last week’s tournament winner Leona Maguire from Ireland, share joint sixth place on 70.
Bogey-free round propels Lee-Ann Pace to the top of the @KPMGWomensPGA leader board!
FULL LEADERBOARD ⬇
— LPGA (@LPGA) June 23, 2023
Pace’s compatriot Paula Reto also had a solid start and is among the top 20 players with a score of 70 – equal to par.
Unfortunately, the SA star and current British Open champion Ashleigh Buhai could not hold a candle to her two compatriots and she could only enter a score of 73 (+2) on her scorecard.
Buhai is not the only one of the big guns in the field who have struggled.
New Zealander Lydia Ko (74), defending champion In Gee Chun (74), Swede Maja Stark (76) and American major champions Nelly Korda (76) and Lexi Thomson (76) all battled hard and will They need to be at their very best on Friday if they are to escape the relegation mark for the final two rounds.
Afterwards, Pace was pleased with her good play and said that she did not expect to see her name at the top of the leaderboard.
“I decided to come and play in the PGA tournament because I like America and wanted to spend time in the country. Baltusrol is one of the most difficult golf courses out there and I didn’t expect to play so well and take the lead at the end of the day.”
Pace was one of the last players to strike out, starting her day with seven straight.
Over the last eleven holes, however, the veteran of 23 tournament victories worldwide caught fire and fired on all her pistons with five birdies without conceding any strokes to score.
Pace finished in the twilight and said she couldn’t see too well later.
“At my age, the dark is not your friend, but luckily I was able to roll in that last set without any problems,” Pace said of her performance.
Reto is not having a good season, but performed much better in Thursday’s first round than the last time she missed one cutoff after another.
She scored a birdie on both nines, but also dropped a putt on each to finish the day tied and in joint seventeenth position.
