Sport

Liu's personal best gives her LPGA Classic lead

July 07, 2019 06:38·
Shanshan Feng is one of four players tied for the lead after 54 holes of the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic

Shanshan Feng is one of four players tied for the lead after 54 holes of the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic

More than 100 players broke par on day one of the LPGA Tour's Thornberry Creek Classic in Wisconsin and while former victor, Australian Katherine Kirk, was one of them with a round of 68, she finds herself six shots from the lead of China's Yu Liu who matched Kirk's previous course record of 62. "So it's just nice to be out here".

They are tied 32nd in the 140-player field, with nearly half the field capitalising on the soft conditions to shoot scores in the 60s. She thought her score could have been lower, especially after failing to birdie two of the par 5s, including her last hole at No. 9.

"I just made a lot of putts, mid-range inside 15 feet".

It wasn't easy for everyone, particularly Presley Cornelius.

The 23-year-old from Beijing put on a ball striking masterclass including hitting 11/14 fairways and 15/18 greens but conceded that it was her short game that made the difference. The LPGA Tour no longer has the "88 Rule" that banned players from competition for a year if they are not LPGA Tour members and fail to break 88.

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Defending champion Sei Young Kim, who captured the famous Sky Woman trophy a year ago in record-breaking style, threatened to continue where she left off with three birdies in her first four holes but eventually signed for a 3-under-par round of 69.

Joining her in second place, and perhaps the surprise package on the leaderboard, including major winners Shanshan Feng (-8), Anna Nordqvist (-8), Ariya Jutanugarn (-7) and Sung Hyun Park (-7) is Monday qualifier, Yealimi Noh. "Played well here past year, so I have good memories, but when you don't birdie a couple in a row, you know you're kind of getting a little behind".

The bogey-free 62 was the best round of Liu's LPGA career, topping her second-round 63 at Thornberry Creek in 2018.

Lee began her round with a par on No. 10 and then ran off seven birdies over her next eight holes for a 29 on the back. "So I just try to keep making birdies and keep staying aggressive".

"It would be really good if they did, I mean Green Bay seems to be growing and I think this is a good opportunity to have some recognition for this kind of tournament", says Steve Robinson, who just moved to Green Bay from out of state. "So that was a little disappointing".

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