Hannah Green starts well but trails in wake of In Gee Chun
In Gee Chun and Australian caddie Dean Herden – in action today – photo Darren Carroll PGA of America
Former KPMG Women’s PGA Champion, Hannah Green, might be in a share of 6th place at this year’s event at the Congressional Country Club in Bethesda near Washington D.C but such was the dominant performance of South Korean In Gee Chun in today’s opening round that the West Australian is some seven shots off the lead.
Chun’s round of 64 has opened up a five shot lead over the nest female golfers in the game, former Australian Amateur Champion Hye-Jin Choi and Thailand’s Pornanong Phatlum, the former US Women’s Open champion returning to the form which saw her win not only the US Women’s Open in 2015 but the Evian Masters the following year.
Chun is taking on a new approach to her game trying to enjoy it more and focus on the process rather then the result.
“I think golf is all about the process, so after I had a couple of not good weeks before, so I felt really bad after that, but I’m trying to make the focus on the course for the process, not for the result.
“That helps a lot. I’m trying to enjoy to play golf more on the course, more talk with my caddie. I’m happy with the good round today.”
Chun’s caddie is veteran Australian Dean Herden who has an enviable record with Koreans in major championships. He was on the bag of So Yeo Ryu when she won the US Women’s Open in 2011 but has teamed with several other Koreans to win significant events on the LPGA and other tours including Jin Young Ko’s win at the Australian Women’s Open.
Hannah Green, however, began the event well and sits in a share of 6th place with eight others and one shot ahead of the next best Australasians Stephanie Kyriacou and Lydia Ko who recorded rounds of even par 72.
Green played in the wet conditions faced by the morning field and she did well to dig in after a slow start.
“I bogeyed my first hole, didn’t get a great shot, and then just tried to hold on as much as possible. On the front nine, I had a lot of long clubs in. Completely different to what I played in the practice round, which I’m sure every other player has experienced today.
“Luckily, our back nine we got some better weather. The rain stopped, and it was still hard, but, yeah, made a couple of soft bogeys, but super happy to birdie 16, 17 to get me under par.
“Even par is a great score out here today. Nasa (Hataoka) and I played really well, and it was just like we were kind of feeding off each other and trying to hang in there.
“I knew there were a couple of shorter holes on the back nine that I could kind of access, so I wanted to make sure I wasn’t putting too much pressure on myself, but I wanted to make sure I was putting myself in a position to have a birdie or have a low score.
“After the start I’m just glad that I held in there and stayed patient.”
Minjee Lee is another shot back at 1 over 73 along with Sarah Kemp amongst others, that pair tied for 30th.
L-R Hannah Green, Jan Stephenson and Karrie Webb at this week’s Champions dinner
