PALOS VERDES ESTATES, Calif. — Malia Nam took a one-stroke lead into the weekend in simply her second profession LPGA Tour begin, taking pictures a 2-under 69 on Friday within the Fir Hills Seri Pak Championship at Palos Verdes Golf Membership.
One among seven former USC gamers within the area on the scenic course overlooking the Pacific Ocean, Nam, a 24-year-old from Hawai’i, performed greater than 100 rounds on the format throughout her time with Trojans.
“I’ve seen each single inch of this golf course, good and unhealthy,” Nam mentioned. “It is humorous, as a result of in faculty I by no means actually performed properly right here. That is really the primary time that I believe I shot consecutively underneath par, so I am a bit shocked myself.”
Enjoying within the remaining group of the day to tee off on No. 10, Nam pulled even with defending champion Ruoning Yin and Madelene Sagstrom with a birdie on the par-3 sixth and took the lead with a birdie on the par-5 seventh. She parred the ultimate two holes to complete at 8-under 134.
“It is positively a fairly surreal feeling seeing my identify on the highest of the leaderboard, particularly with all the most effective gamers on the planet.” Nam mentioned. “I at all times knew that I can play out right here, however I did not anticipate it to be so fast to see my identify up on the highest of the leaderboard.”
In her LPGA Tour debut in late January in Florida, she tied for 57th within the LPGA Drive On Championship.
On Friday, she rebounded after struggling in the midst of the spherical. She had a double bogey on the par-4 fifteenth and a bogey on the par-4 first.
“Obtained a extremely unhealthy break,” Nam mentioned about 15. “The ball was like up behind the lip so I needed to chip backwards.”
Yin closed eagle-birdie-birdie for a 65. The 21-year-old Chinese language participant started the spree with a 5-iron to six ft for the eagle on No. 7 and ran in a 45-footer on the par-4 eighth.
“On the entrance 9, the fairways are huge open and I can smoke it each time I would like,” Yin mentioned.
Ranked fourth on the planet, Yin adopted her breakthrough LPGA Tour win final 12 months at Palos Verdes with a serious victory on the KMPG Girls’s PGA.
Sagstrom had three late birdies within the afternoon session. The 31-year-old Swede birdied the par-5 14th and sixteenth and reached 7 underneath with a birdie on the par-3 seventeenth.
“Glad I hung in there,” Sagstrom mentioned. “I used to be regular, placing properly on the greens, so I be ok with my recreation.”
She received the 2020 Gainbridge LPGA at Boca Rio for her lone tour title.
Rose Zhang (68), Leona Maguire (65) and former UCLA participant Alison Lee (70) had been 6 underneath. The 20-year-old Zhang received the received the Mizuho Americas Open final 12 months in her first skilled begin. Lee had a birdie-birdie-eagle run on Nos. 14-16 for a share of the lead then dropped again with a bogey on 17.
Linn Grant (68) and Lauren Hartlage (71) had been 5 underneath.
Second-ranked Nelly Korda had a late double bogey in a 67 that left her 3 underneath. She received the LPGA Drive On Championship in January in her final occasion.
First-round chief Maude-Aimee Leblanc adopted her opening 64 with a 79 to make the lower on the quantity at 1 over. The one participant within the area with a bogey-free opening spherical, the Canadian had 9 bogeys within the second.
Seri Pak is the match host for the primary time. Pak is without doubt one of the most influential gamers in LPGA historical past, a pioneer for South Korean gamers to observe her path.
