LPGA and American Junior Golf Association (AJGA) golfers alike teed off for the first round of the Mizuho Americas Open at Mountain Ridge Country Club in West Caldwell, Thursday.
Both the pros and juniors who had played this event before, like Short Hills native Aphrodite Deng, the reigning junior champion, and Jeeno Thitikul, the defending LPGA champion, had to make some adjustments when they took to the course on Thursday for their first tastes of competitive golf on a course that many of the golfers said played like a major course.
Despite the windy conditions and tricky greens, there were some low scores made by the professionals and some high scores made by the juniors.
Let’s dive in and find out how round one of this exciting and unique tournament panned out.
Juniors Tee Off on Thursday
At the end of the first round, St. Petersburg, Florida’s Amelie Zalsman led the AJGA leaderboard with 39 points.
The fifth-ranked AJGA golfer was consistent, making par on nine out of 18 holes, birdying six times, and only bogeying three times. She finished strong by making three birdies on the back nine, including one on the 18th hole.
The leader of the junior field sits three points ahead of Deng, who teed off with her at 9:16 a.m. Deng was leading the junior field until the 15th hole when she bogeyed, which opened the door for her competitor. Zalsman would then birdie the 16th hole and take over the lead. However, let’s not take anything away from Deng’s stellar first round at Mountain Ridge.
The 16-year-old Deng aced the front nine, managing to make two birdies on the third and eighth hole (a par 5) and making par on the seven other holes. Deng started off the back nine with a bogey on 10 but then managed par on the next two holes before birdying 13, which is a par 5. She bogeyed 15 and 18 (both par 4s) before finishing the round with 36 points. To bogey only three holes in her first round of golf on a major-level course like Mountain Ridge is an achievement.
Fellow New Jerseyan junior golfer Vidhi Lakhawala had herself a good day of golf in round one as well. She started with two bogeys but then settled in by birdying holes three and six.
She bogeyed hole 7 but answered that with an eagle on the eighth hole. Her one big mistake was a double bogey on the long, 464-yard par-5 that is the 13th hole at Mountain Ridge. Lakhawala made par on 16, bogeyed the 17th hole, and finished strong with a birdie on the 18th hole. Overall, the 18-year-old from Kendall Park gutted it out through her first round of competitive golf at Mountain Ridge Country Club. Lakhawala remains in striking distance of the top spot, just eight points behind with 31 points heading into round two.
Reigning NJ Girls Golf state champion, Rayee Feng, teed off at 2:05 p.m. and started her day with a bogey on the 415-yard opening hole.
The 17-year-old Feng would bogey again on four and five, before settling down and making par on her next six holes. Feng saved her best for last on Thursday, making her first birdie on the difficult 13th hole. She then only had one bogey on her final five holes and added another birdie on 16 to close out her first round with 33 points. Feng sits tied for 11th place heading into round two and very much within striking distance of the lead.
All in all, the junior field’s three representatives of New Jersey find themselves all within striking distance of the lead heading into round two, which will kick off Friday morning.
The Jersey player who did the best in round one was Deng. She discussed the characteristics of the golf course after her first round wrapped up Thursday afternoon.
“I think the greens are super slopey, and they rolled it really fast. Also, it’s windy, so it’s pretty hard to putt on the greens.”
Zalsman offered how she approached the first round mentally.
“I would say, really, just try to stay patient. Especially with the slopey greens and some of the pins today, you can’t be really too aggressive, so I kind of went out there, try to keep it stable.”
LPGA Golfers Adjust to New Course
We start our coverage of the LPGA field at the Mizuho Americas Open by following the reigning champion of this event and the highest-ranking golfer participating, the No.2 LPGA golfer in the world, Jeeno Thitikul. Thitikul came into this tournament eager to put missing the cut at the Chevron Championship two weeks ago behind her, and she did just that by shooting a superb 67 in round one.
Thitikul clearly didn’t have much trouble adjusting when she birdied the first hole. However, she then bogeyed the par-4 third hole. It was after this that the Thai woman caught fire by firing two birdies and an eagle on holes six through eight. The eagle included her salvaging a bad tee shot to reach the green in two shots and making a long putt. She then played mistake-free golf on the back nine, making par on every hole except 16, where she made her fourth birdie of the day.
After the round, Thitikul discussed what went well for her.
“Yeah, I open it really good with a birdies putt on the first hole, and then, you know, I just tell myself just be patient this golf course, and then just had a really good calculations on the irons and yardages. It’s kind of tough, like green going, and then I holed the putt really well on, you know, like six, seven, and eight to be able to making a birdie and making the run.”
Thitikul walked into the clubhouse with the lead, but it wouldn’t last.
Andrea Lee, who started on the front nine, made up a lot of ground on Thitikul on her last nine holes of round one, making birdies on holes 5, 6, and 7 to catch Thitikul at 5-under-par by the time she reached the ninth hole. Thanks to a birdie on the ninth hole, Lee went into the clubhouse in the lead at 6-under-par, one stroke ahead of Thitikul, having shot a tournament-best 66.
After her first round wrapped up Thursday afternoon, Lee spoke about the course and why her game seems to be rounding into form.
“Yeah, this is a great golf course for us, great test of golf. Honestly feels like a major championship just with how firm and fast the greens are and how tough the conditions are. So, yeah, the game plan is just to stay really patient. I feel like I’ve been playing really consistent golf lately. Had a couple not-great weeks in LA and Chevron, so really grinded last week and worked on the things that I needed to work on, and I feel like it’s all coming together a little bit now.”
The ninth-ranked LPGA golfer, Lydia Ko, teed off at 12:48 p.m. alongside No.4 Charley Hull and No.5 Hannah Green. They would start at the back nine.
Ko would get off to an interesting start. The New Zealander bogeyed the 11th hole, a par-4, before rattling off a birdie on 12 and an eagle on 13. She then wrapped up her first nine holes with birdies on 16 and 18, which placed her 4-under-par. On her last nine holes (the front nine), she managed par on the first five holes before birdying the sixth hole. She then made one of her only mistakes on the day, bogeying the seventh hole before birdying the eighth hole and finishing with a par on the ninth hole. She finished at 5-under-par, tied with the reigning champion Jeeno Thitikul for second place.
Brooke Matthews, the 110th-ranked LPGA golfer, made a surge up the leaderboard on her front nine. Matthews played really well; she birdied the first and third holes before notching an eagle on six. Remarkably, she then birdied the next three consecutive holes before bogeying on hole number 10. She finished her round with a double bogey on the 18th hole but ended the day at 4-under-par and tied for fourth on the leaderboard.
Matthews shot 7-under-par on the front nine at Mountain Ridge on Thursday but 3-over-par on the back nine. She described the difference between the front and back nine holes for her.
“The front nine, both the par-5s are pretty gettable. There were also maybe a few pins that were a little bit nicer. One was a little nice; two, three, even. The back nine, they tucked them a little bit more. The wind kind of swirls back there. Was kind of hard to get a really good number and commit to some of the shots. The wind kind of blowing away from the hole location, so you had a lot of — I had a lot of like 20-, 30-footers that you’re just trying to lag up there for par. So I think that was the main difference for me.”
Tournament host Michelle Wie West shot an 82, which placed her at 10-over-par.
Tournament sponsor invite and Watchung native Ami Gianchandani shot an 85, placing her at 13-over-par.
This is Lydia Ko’s fourth time playing the Mizuho Americas Open, and she’s seen it grow over the years to the special event it is today. Ko described how the event has changed since 2023 and what kind of experience this year’s event has been.
“This event is more than just a golf tournament. The sponsors, Mizuho, have done a lot in growing the game, and they’ve been adding different I think events outside of just the four days of golf that we play…What Michelle has done by having the AJGA players, I think, is a really good opportunity and really good exposure for them. I wish that when I was a junior, I had these kind of opportunities as well. So to kind of play alongside them on the weekend, it has been great. They’re so good. It’s hard to believe that some of them are literally only 14, 15, and they hit it just as far as me or further than me. You know, the finesse that they have, you wouldn’t think they’re in their mid to early teens. So, it’s a learning opportunity for me, and it’s I think the sponsors and Excel, they do a really good job bringing a lot of generations together and kind of grow the whole game of golf.”
