Paula Creamer and Mariajo Uribe are tied for the lead at five-under par (67) after round one of the Kia Classic at Aviara Golf Club in Carlsbad, California.
Despite besting the field in the morning wave, Creamer did not rest this afternoon, “I missed a couple fairways out there, which is not normal for me…I’m going to definitely go hit some balls to fix that, but for the most part, I’ve been pretty steady.”
Mariajo Uribe got off to a hot start with birdies on four of her first five holes. She added a birdie on the eleventh hole to get to five-under, and coasted with pars on the final seven holes.
“I took advantage of the first couple of holes when the greens weren’t that bad, made four birdies on the first five holes, and just took it from there, stayed pretty calm.”
Uribe’s round took five hours and twenty-eight minutes, but she said she had a fun group (Heather Bowie Young and Kristy McPherson), which helped pass the time. Uribe also battled darkness, and the poa annua greens.
The poa greens became very bumpy for the players in the afternoon wave.
Christie Kerr, Shanshan Feng, Jodi Ewart Shadoff, and Mi Hyang Lee are tied for third place after firing four-under 68s.
Lexi Thompson got her round to four-under through 10 holes, but she three-putted for bogey on the fifth hole (her fourteenth of the day), and missed a couple birdie opportunities coming in to finish with a three-under 69 (T7).
Lexi is only 19-years-old, but she spoke like a seasoned professional after the round, “I thought it was a pretty solid round, pretty easy conditions. There was a little bit of wind out there, but just tried to take one shot at a time, [stay focused], and have fun.”
Lizette Salas shot a bogeyless 69 (T7), “It was a steady round, and just like last week, I tried to keep everything simple by hitting fairways and greens.”
Similar to Thomspon, Salas’ putter kept her from going super low, “rolled in some good putts, and I left a lot of putts out there, but there is plenty of golf to be played.”
World No. 1 Inbee Park, Tiffany Joh, and Azahara Munoz, are also tied for seventh place at three-under par.
Stacy Lewis, Michelle Wie, Se Ri Pak, and Ai Miyazato are among 18 players tied for twelfth place at two-under (70).
Link to leaderboard.
