High-ranked Nelly Korda, world quantity two Jeeno Thitikul and third-ranked Lydia Ko chase a serious title none of them has received when the eightieth US Ladies’s Open tees off Thursday.
HT Picture
Defending champion Yuka Saso of Japan seeks her third US Ladies’s Open crown in 5 seasons on the par-72, 6,829-yard Erin Hills structure in Erin, Wisconsin.
“Conditions here can be very difficult,” Saso stated. “I think it’s going to be a good challenge.
“It will be good to win one other one. Every other event would make me as completely happy, but when I win once more, it might be extra particular. Profitable retains me motivated.”
Korda, a two-time major champion, seeks the only major title on home soil that has eluded her.
“It may check everybody’s sport, very demanding,” Korda said. “The bunkers should not simple. It does not actually matter how far you hit it. It is all about accuracy on the finish of the day.
“It’s firm. It’s fast as well. Even if you think you’ve hit it good, you can never exhale when you see it stop.”
In poor health winds might blow away the probabilities of contenders, Korda warned.
“Weather plays a pretty big role out here, especially with no trees to block it,” Korda stated. “When it gets windy out here, it’s really going to play with your golf ball.”
Korda has by no means completed higher than eighth in 10 prior begins.
“It’s the biggest test in the game,” she stated. “Definitely has tested me a lot. Not even just our games, our mental as well. I love it.”
Thailand’s Jeeno received her first title of the yr three weeks in the past on the LPGA Mizuho Americas Open.
“Game has been a little bit better ball-striking-wise,” Jeeno stated. “But I think what is doing pretty well is the mental side. I’m just more relaxing, like natural, not forcing anything.”
The 22-year-old chases her first main victory this week.
“I think the major win, it should be really tough for me,” Jeeno stated. “What I want to accomplish, just one major, it’s just my process. Definitely going to test my patience. I promise that patience is really the key.”
New Zealand’s Ko, the reigning Olympic champion and a three-time main winner, would love to gather considered one of solely two main prizes to have eluded her.
“This would be the one that I’d say, ‘Oh, I wish I was a US Women’s Open champion,” Ko stated.
“It may seem like a large pool of people that are the past champions, but it’s actually quite small, and I would obviously love to be part of that US Women’s Open club.”
Ko, who received her twenty third LPGA title in March at Singapore, says enjoying on unfamiliar programs with restricted observe time makes the US Ladies’s Open harder to win.
“There’s a lot of pressure,” she stated. “I don’t know what kind of mindset I’m going to have going into this week but I’m really excited.
“I feel it’s essential have a extremely good brief sport and an open thoughts to how you are going to mess around this golf course, and for probably the most half, I really feel fairly snug.
“But I think this is also the type of golf course you need to hit a lot of quality golf shots and also get a little bit of luck.”
js/bsp
MIZUHO FINANCIAL GROUP