Thailand’s Pornanong Phatlum has lead after the first-round lead in the Lorena Ochoa Invitational Presented by Banamex, thanks to her birdieing seven of the first 13 holes at Guadalajara Country Club on Thursday.
Life is full of first impressions, and this is Phatlum‘s first time to play in this elite-field tournament and she’s making quite a first impression in Guadalajara. The Rolex Ranked No. 59 Phatlum, fired off three birdies in a row to jump start her first round, then picked up four more through 13 holes.
The 23-year-old Phatlum has five Top-10 finishes this year but is without a victory. Her playing today was impressive. While there is a long way to go to finally put a “W” in her record, she reflected with satisfaction, “I had a complete game today.”
South Korean Amy Yang was a stroke back, and fellow compatriot players and Rolex Rankings No. 1 and No. 4 respectively, Inbee Park and So Yeon Ryu, were two shots back at 68 along with Sweden's Anna Nordqvist.
The Rolex Ranked No. 17 Yang, also had a solid round today. She needed only 29 putts in a round that included six birdies and one bogey, and moved quickly into the red numbers today with a birdie at the Par-4 second before jumping to four-under-par with three consecutive birdies beginning at the Par-4 fourth.
The top-ranked Park swept the first three major championships of the season and has three other tour wins this season. She's winless in eight starts since the US Women's Open in late June.
Park’s putter, which was her new best friend through the first half of the season, cooled off after Park’s historic win at the US Women’s Open in June. Today Park played her round with 27 putts, and looked like that golfer who was setting records and making history in the middle of the summer. Park was pleased with her round.
“My ball striking was really good today.” Said Park. “I hardly missed any shots out there today, I didn’t miss any fairways and probably missed only a couple greens”
Rolex Rankings No. 2, Norway’s Suzann Pettersen opened with a 70. The Norwegian player is coming off a successful title defense in Taiwan, her third victory in her last five starts and fourth of the season.
With Pettersen two shots back, Park’s still holding a firm lead on Rolex Player of the Year. Doing the math, Pettersen is Park’s only real challenger for that honor. All Park needs to do is stay ahead of Pettersen to hold her off, and she did a bit more than that today.
Michelle Wie, who won the tournament in 2009, was the top American in a tie for sixth place at 69 and remains in the mix. Lexi Thompson was tied for 16th at even-par 72 while Morgan Pressel was tied for 22nd at one-over 73.
Taylor Collins, who earned an exemption into the elite, 36-player field by winning the Golf Channel’s “Big Break Mexico” earlier this year, shot a two-over-par 74 in this her first LPGA tournament.
The former Nova Southeastern University All-American was one-under-par through four holes, then had two bogeys before a birdie got her back to even par for the outward nine. She went bogey-birdie-bogey on holes 13-15 and then bogeyed No. 18 to close out her round.
In a field of of 36, 14 players are within five shots of Phatlum’s lead and only 11 shots separate Phatlum from Cristie Kerr, the 2012 defending champion, who is holding the bottom slot on the board at five-over 77.
This is going to be a very tight contest, so expect that the leaderboard will be dynamic and volatile throughout the tournament.
The tournament is hosted by former pro and Guadalajara native Lorena Ochoa, who held the position of world number one for over three years during a career that spanned from 2003 to 2010. Ochoa won 27 tour titles before retiring in 2010.
Play begins Friday when Alejandra Llaneza, Brittany Lincicome, and Cristie Kerr take the first tee at 10:20 am local time. Pornanong Phatlum, Amy Yang, and Inbee Park will play in the final group, teeing off at 12:21 pm local time.