Thursday At The 81st U.S. Women's Open
Kupcho opens with 66 to take a one stroke lead at Riviera.
73.551: Round 1 Scoring average (par 71)
73.17 vs. 73.94: Early vs. late wave
66: Low round by Jennifer Kupcho
7: Birdies made by Kupcho
7: Major winners in the top 10
13: Rounds in the 60s
28: Rounds under par
1: Bogey-free round (Minjee Lee, 69)
1: Eagle by the field (Alison Korpuz, 17th hole)
6,602: Round one yardage
13: Green speed after morning mowing
169: yardage of the par-3 4th hole
1: Rank of No. 12, toughest round one hole (4.436)
70: Best score by an amateur (Maria Jose Marin, Paula Franciso Liano, Aphrodite Deng)
83: High score by Katherine Muzi
71: Thursday’s high temperature with morning marine layer, afternoon sun and clouds with gusts up to 18 m.p.h.
Parents are always right.
Or so claims first-round leader Jennifer Kupcho after torching Riviera with seven birdies inspired by an April scouting trip.
“My parents have always pushed me like, hey, why don’t you go try and see the golf course beforehand?” Kupcho said after taking the U.S. Women’s Open Presented by Ally round lead by one over Sei Young Kim. “I’m like, ‘no, like I don’t do that. I never do that for any other tournament. Why would I change that for the U.S. Open?’”
After three straight missed cuts in the national championship, Kupcho turned up at Riviera in advance of April’s JM Eagle Championship to dial in her bearings and learn where not to hit it.
“When I showed up this week, it was just like I knew where everything was, I knew what I was doing. So it actually helped. Parents are always right, right?”
Kupcho credited her length in taking advantage of the famed layout.
“And then if I do miss a fairway, shorter clubs off the rough definitely can help me control it a little better. That certainly helped today.”
Kupcho started with three birdies at the first, second, and third holes, a career first.
“I just felt at home,” said the 29-year-old former Chevron Championship and Augusta National Women’s Amateur winner. “ I really like the golf course. It kind of just flies by.”
The best round of the morning wave belonged to veteran Sei Young Kim, who credited patience in a 67 that featured three straight birdies at Nos. 6-8.
“The U.S. Open is not the same as a regular tournament,” the 33-year-old said. “You need to be really patient instead of attacking the pin. So I try to really follow what my caddie says and try to [stay] patient, patient until the end.”
The 2020 KPMG Women’s PGA champion has a less stellar track record in the U.S. Women’s Open where she has just one top 10 (T8 in 2017). Overall, she has 12 top 10’s in majors. Her four-under-par performance ended a personal streak of 43 consecutive major rounds shooting 70 or higher.
Pre-tournament favorite Nelly Korda posted a 73 (+2) featuring only snippets of her signature ballstriking. The older, calmer winner of the year’s first major seemed annoyed with herself throughout the round by her inability to recapture what was ideal early week prep.
“Found myself in a lot of trouble on the wrong sides of a lot of these pins,” Korda said. “I was grinding to make safe pars. It wasn’t a great day. I hit it really good Monday through Wednesday, so I have honestly no idea where this came from. So I’m going to go to the range.”
