Under the watchful eye of Lady Liberty, LPGA Tour sophomore Lauren Hartlage dominated the iconic Liberty National Golf Club, firing a bogey-free -7 to take the solo lead after round one. Her first-round 65 is the lowest round of her LPGA Tour career, besting her previous low of 68, which she has shot four times. With an early start off the back nine on Thursday, Hartlage started hot and kept that momentum throughout the round.
“I eagled the first hole. Hit it to a foot and tapped in for eagle, so getting off to a really good start always helps,” said Hartlage. “I was just hitting my driver great. I think I hit almost every fairway, and out here getting yourself in a good position, the greens are pretty receptive, so it's getting yourself in the fairway, and I gave myself a lot of good birdie chances.”
Hartlage did, in fact, hit every fairway on Thursday as well as 13 of 18 greens. She made six birdies in addition to her eagle, including one on the par-4 No. 9 that played as the hardest hole during round one – she was one of just six players in the field to make birdie there on Thursday.
During her 2022 rookie season, Hartlage made just six cuts in 16 starts but maintained her status thanks to a T9 finish at LPGA Q-Series. In 2023, she has made four cuts in seven starts with a season best T6 finish at the LOTTE Championship presented by Hoakalei, her second top-10 finish on Tour. Now, she holds a post-round lead for the first time in her LPGA Tour career and is using that as a sign that her game is trending upward.
“Honestly it's funny, because last week playing in Vegas, I was 0-3. You know, couldn't hit a fairway, and then you go the next week and work on some things at the beginning of the week and turn it all around,” she said. “It's nice to see that hard work pay off. Staying patient is a big key for me, because like we said, golf is so up and down. You can get yourself in bad positions or good positions, so just kind of giving myself these opportunities and being in contention is a lot of fun.”
Sitting two strokes behind Hartlage at -5 on the LPGA side is Aditi Ashok, who is riding a wave of good play into the Mizuho Americas Open. The Indian golfer has earned two top-5 results in her last two stroke play events on Tour, a T2 finish at the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro and a T5 finish at the Cognizant Founders Cup. Ashok already has one win this season on the LET, and though she doesn’t expect a win, she knows that she has what it takes.
“I don't think you can ever go into an event thinking this is the one I'm going to win because golf kind of humbles you sometimes,” Ashok said. “But, yeah, I just know that if I play good four days, then I'll have a pretty good chance. I just focus on trying to play the best round of golf I can play on that day. Sometimes that's a 67; sometimes that's a 72.”
At T3 are Northern Irishwoman Stephanie Meadow and two-time champion Atthaya Thitikul. The Thai golfer Thitikul fought increasingly windy conditions throughout the afternoon to earn her 68, while Meadow was the first off the 10th tee on Thursday with few breezes to be battled. Still, the two golfers filled their cards with birdies, with five from Thitikul and six from Meadow, while limiting their mistakes. Thitikul had just one bogey in 18 holes while Meadow had two.
Seven players shot -3 and are T5 heading into round two, including two-time major champions Brooke Henderson and Lydia Ko. Making her professional debut after one of the most successful amateur careers in history, Rose Zhang shot a 2-under 70, which she said eased her nerves heading into the second-round.
On the AJGA side of this week’s competition – 24 AJGA girls are teeing it up with the LPGA players in a first-of-its-kind event – 16-year-old Yana Wilson leads the way after earning 41 points in a Stableford Scoring format. She shot a 5-under 67, from different yardages than the professionals, highlighted by five birdies and no bogeys.
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