Jodi Ewart Shadoff carded an 8-under 64 on Thursday, her career-best first round score, to take a two-shot lead in the LPGA Mediheal Championship.
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“The green complexes are really difficult, and you have to play safe when you need to and be aggressive when you can. So just being able in the right parts of the greens definitely helped, and I felt like I did a good job of doing that today. I gave myself a lot of opportunities and I just felt really comfortable and relaxed with the putter today, so I think that really happened.”
This is Ewart Shadoff’s first individual first-round lead since the 2021 ShopRite Classic in 2021. Her season-best finish so far is her solo third from this year’s ShopRite LPGA Classic. She is still looking for her first win after 12 years on Tour.
American Alison Lee and China’s Ruixin Liu are tied for second after 6-under 66s. Lee has had three top-10 finishes this season.
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“I feel like for the entire year I feel like I’ve been playing really well. I’ve just had a few putts here and there that weren’t able to go in. A lot of the time it was not putting aggressive enough,” said Lee. “And today I had quite a few uphill putts that normally I wouldn’t make, and I made a conscious effort to just ram it back into the cup and it worked.
Liu is currently 97th in the Race to CME Globe standings, just on the edge of securing full-time Tour status for 2023. Her 66 is her lowest 18-hole score since the 2020 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship.
“I think after today I know I can conquer the course just like I did today, so tomorrow same plan,” said Liu. “Stay focus and stay patient.”
American Danielle Kang, Thai Atthaya Thitikul and South African Paula Reto are tied in fourth place at 5-under.
