RANCHO MIRAGE, Calif. — Hinako Shibuno’s first impression of Mission Hills Nation Membership was removed from confidence-inspiring — and, in hindsight, mistaken.
“It was a hard course for me. I couldn’t even imagine I could play here,” the 23-year-old from Japan stated by a translator Friday, recalling the preliminary time she performed the occasion now often known as The Chevron Championship.
A yr and a half after tying for 51st in her debut, she took a one-stroke lead into the weekend on the mountain-framed course internet hosting the key championship for the final time. The match that began in 1972 and have become a significant in 1983 is shifting to Houston subsequent yr after failing to draw a sponsor prepared to maintain it at Mission Hills.
Shibuno opened with a tap-in birdie on the par-4 first and had one other on the par-4 tenth.
“That makes it easier to play golf,” she stated.
The 2019 Girls’s British Open champion chipped in on the par-4 thirteenth for the final of her seven birdies, towards a lone bogey in heat and sunny morning circumstances. She’s sticking with the routine that has labored up to now.
Full-field scores from the Chevron Championship
“I’m going to do just same thing,” Shibuno stated. “I’m going to eat and I’m going to sleep.”
Defending champion Patty Tavatanakit (69), Annie Park (67) and Jennifer Kupcho (70) have been a stroke again. Sei Younger Kim (67) and Hyo Joo Kim (67) adopted at 7 underneath.
“I feel like I left a lot out there,” Tavatanakit stated. “But at the same time, that’s just golf. There is no way you’re going to have a perfect day with no mistakes. “
She closed with birdies on the par-3 seventeenth and par-5 18th.
“I think 17 was definitely a bonus with that pin position,” Tavatanakit stated. “I think it kind of got my momentum going, knowing 18 was an up tee, so I knew I had a chance to get another birdie.”
Park performed by herself the primary two rounds with the gamers grouped in twosomes and an odd quantity within the discipline.
“Playing by myself was kind of weird yesterday, but today I kind of got used to it,” Park stated. “I think when I made the turn and started waiting on players in the group in front of me, kind of just started to feel like normal golf.”
Kupcho, tied for the first-round lead with Minjee Lee at 66, birdied two of the final three holes after parring the primary 15.
“I wouldn’t say I stayed very patient,” Kupcho stated. “I definitely got a little angry.”
Nanna Koerstz Madsen (67) and Ally Ewing (68) have been 6 underneath.
Koerstz Madsen has a playoff victory and loss in her final two begins, beating Xiyu Lin three weeks in the past in Thailand to grow to be the primary Danish winner in LPGA Tour historical past and dropping to Atthaya Thitikul on Sunday in Carlsbad.
“I was very disappointed after Sunday,” Koerstz Madsen stated. “But we drove here and we tried to take it as a positive that I was still in the playoff and I was still playing very good golf. But, obviously, it was disappointing.”
Lee had a 75 to drop to five underneath. Lexi Thompson, the 2014 champion, additionally was 5 underneath after a 70.
Prime-ranked Jin Younger Ko, the 2019 winner, adopted a gap 74 with a 68 to get to three underneath. She performed alongside Thompson.
Season factors chief Danielle Kang birdied 5 of the primary 12, then dropped 4 strokes on the ultimate 5 with bogeys on 14 and 17 and a double bogey on 18. She was even par after a 71.
