Three of the best young players on the LPGA Tour had mixed results in the first round of the Kraft Nabisco Championship. Jessica Korda posted a two-under par 70 and is among the leaders tied for sixth place. Lydia Ko shot even-par 72. Lexi Thompson is T-80 and in danger of missing the cut with a first round four-over par 76.
Korda is just 20 years old and survived a five-person playoff with Stacy Lewis, Brittany Lincicome, Julieta Granada, So Yeon Ryu and He Kyung Seo to win the 2012 Women’s Australian Open.
Korda went on to post three more top-10 finishes in 2012 and earn $400,000. Thus far in 2013 she has two top-10 finishes in five starts and has earned $140,000.
Her father is former tennis professional, Petr Korda, who won the Australian Open in 1998.
Her topsy-turvy round on Thursday included two double-bogeys and one bogey but she offset those with seven birdies. Korda is a fearless competitor and likes the big events.
15-year-old Lydia Ko has already won one Ladies European Tour event this year, the ISPS New Zealand Women’s Open. It was her third win over professionals in her short career. She also finished in third place behind two former world No. 1 players, Jiyai Shin and Yani Tseng, the following week in the Wome's Australian Open.
Ko won the Bing Lee Samsung Women’s NSW Open in January, 2012, an event on the Australian Ladies Professional Golf Tour (ALPG). In August last year she won the Canadian Women’s Open on the LPGA Tour.
Ko also won three amateur tournaments last year including the 2012 U.S. Women’s Amateur in July.
She will not be eligible to become an official member of the LPGA Tour for a couple of years but is already one of the best women golfers in the world.
Lexi Thompson is just in her second full season on the LPGA Tour but is hardly inexperienced. She had wins on the LPGA and Ladies European Tour (LET) while still only 16 years old before becoming an official LPGA Tour member.
She qualified for her first U.S. Women’s Open at age 12 and turned professional in 2010. After her two professional wins in 2011, the LPGA Tour granted her a special exemption to become a tour member for the 2012 season.
Thompson got off to a rocky start in the Kraft Nabisco. Her first-round 76 included bogeys on four of the first six holes. She also had a double-bogey on No. 17 and a bogey at the last.
The cut-line after the first round is at three-over par and is estimated to be at six-over par after Friday’s action. Thompson will need to eliminate the big mistakes in the second round and post a slightly better score if she wants to be around for the weekend.
These are three of the most talented young women in the world and should provide excitement for golf fans for a long time to come.