After coming so close at the Women’s PGA Championship, Xiyu (Janet) Lin made a fine start to her bid to bounce right back as she grabbed a share of the lead alongside Hyo Joo Kim after the first round of the US Women’s Open.
Pebble Beach rolled out a welcome we’ve seen many times before with some typically cold and misty conditions on the Monterey Peninsula as the women made history by teeing it up on one of the most iconic venues in golf for the first time.
It was a test that Lin of China and South Korean Kim, the 2018 US Women’s Open runner-up, took to the best with both carding four-under rounds of 68 to lead by one.
Irish amateur Aine Donegan is in the chasing pack on three under alongside compatriot Leona Maguire – who held a one-shot lead at the Women’s PGA going into the final round but came up short.
The biggest surprise of the day was how the top two players in the world failed to deal with Pebble Beach, as World No.2 Nelly Korda could only shoot 76 while World No.1 Jin Young Ko was even worse as she shot 79.
Lin looking to go one better
World No.9 Lin is the highest ranked player yet to win on the LPGA after bogeying her final hole at the Women’s PGA Championship while her great friend and compatriot Ruoning Yin birdied it to take home the title.
Lin was not thinking too much about that near miss though as she instead focused on making history by playing at Pebble Beach.
“It’s been amazing this couple of days to play here, walk in the town, I love this town,” said Lin. “I love Monterrey, the [Carmel] Valley. Everything is so nice here, so chill.
“Just think we’re part of the history. I kind of told myself no matter what, this is going to be a memorable week.”
South Korea’s Ko set a new record for weeks at the top of the ranking last week, but had a double-bogey in her front-nine 42 and could never recover.
Golfing legend Annika Sorenstam shot 80 as she teed it up for this historic event after being given a special invitation.
“I think I hit one fairway overall,” said Sorenstam, “and you can’t score on this course, especially with my distance, it makes it really difficult. So I’m disappointed in that, but I fought really hard. I thought I made some great saves. It sounds funny when you have this score, but I did.”
Irish eyes smiling at Pebble Beach
(Image credit: Getty Images)
Irish amateur Donegan had an eventful build-up to her first US Women’s Open with one her drivers being broken during the flight over – but the 21-year-old took it…
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