Stephanie Meadow struggled to get anything going in a lacklustre performance that saw her sign for a two-over par 74 on day one of the Lotte Championship in Hawaii.
The Jordanstown professional returned to action after a week off having sat out the year’s first Major and perhaps it was rustiness that contributed to a round that included just the one birdie and three dropped shots.
Statistics would say that Meadow was unable to get into her groove having hit just 6 of 14 fairways and 13 of 18 greens, while she needed 33 putts to see out her round also.
The plus-two total piles the pressure on Meadow to make the weekend cut with the projected mark already sitting at one-under par after a hot scoring day in West Oahu.
None played better than America’s Nelly Korda who fired a blistering nine birdies in a blemish free nine-under par 63 to take the lead into day two this evening.
South Korea’s Eun-Hee Ji is one shot further back at eight-under par while compatriot Hyejin Choi and defending champion, Brooke Henderson share third at seven-under par.
Last year, Henderson shot a three-under par 69 in the final round for a 12-under par winning total. Scoring looks to be coming much easier this week which doesn’t bode well for the cut mark, but with Lotte again on board as title sponsor, the tournament boasts a prize purse worth $2,000,000 and if Meadow can somehow get herself into the business end of the tournament, there’s plenty to play for this year once more.
Full Scoring HERE – http://www.lpga.com/leaderboard
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