Minjee Lee starts well at US Women’s Open
Minjee Lee – in action today – photo USGA
Minjee Lee has begun her quest for a second US Women’s Open title with an opening round of even par 70 at the Lancaster Country Club in Pennsylvania, leaving her just two behind the opening round leader Yuka Saso of Japan who is also chasing a second US Open victory.
On a day where the revamped Lancaster Country Club well and truly bared her teeth, only four of the 156 players in the field broke the par of 70 and some of the world’s best made horror starts.
World number one Nelly Korda was never able to recover from a seven over par 10 on her 3rd hole of the day and finished with 80 as did New Zealand’s Lydia Ko, but with the cut looking as if it will be around 8 or 9 over tomorrow evening, then even Korda and Ko have a chance of making it to the weekend.
Lee’s round of five birdies and five bogeys included 10 of 14 fairways hit and 14 of 18 greens so her game on one of the most demanding golf courses was impressive and leaves her well-placed to take advantage of an early morning tee time tomorrow.
“Yeah, I felt pretty good out there,” said Lee after her round. “Obviously if you missed the fairway a little bit, you were in quite a bit of trouble. It’s quite detrimental. Pretty much the bogeys I made were off the fairway. My second shot put a little bit more pressure on that.
“I think I still gave myself great opportunities for birdie. The birdies that I had were, a couple of them were short, like four or five feet, and some were maybe like 12 to 15 feet. Yeah, I still had good looks when I had birdies, so I was kind of back and forth with my bogeys and my birdies.”
Lee was asked whether the layout deserved its title as The Beast?
“Yeah, I remember it from nine years ago. It was my rookie year, and it was like, oh, my God. But now that I come back, it is hilly, but it’s the same for everyone. It is a monster of a walk, and it’s just going to be good recovery, and — it’ll be good recovery tonight and just come back and try and beat the course again.”
Gabi Ruffels and late inclusion in the event, Sarah Kemp are the next best of the Australians at 5 over and seven off the pace while one of the more favoured players heading into the event, Hannah Green is at 6 over along with New Zealand’s Amelia Garvey and Victorian amateur Keeley Marx, Stephanie Kyriacou is at 7 over and Lydia Ko 10 over.
The leader Saso won this event at the Olympic Club near San Francisco in 2021 but that has been her only won in the LPGA Tour although most recognise her as having a game particularly suited to US Open style set-ups.
