“I prepared a lot, but I don’t think I should have played like I did today.”
So said Yoo Hyun-joo (29-Doosan E&C), playing in her first Korean Ladies Professional Golf (KLPGA) Tour event of the year, after accepting a scorecard of 79 on the first day of the Doosan E&C Weave Championship (1.2 billion won in prize money).
Yoo made two birdies but had three double bogeys and three bogeys for a 7-over-par 79 in the first round of the tournament at Teddy Valley Golf & Resort (Par 72) in Seogwipo City, Jeju Island, on Nov. 11.
Playing in her first regular tour event in about a year and two months since the BC Card Hankyung Ladies Cup in June last year, Yoo was more disappointed with her performance than her three tee shots on the day.
After the match, Yoo said, “I felt like it had been a long time, and I tried to adapt to the green speed, but today I had a hard time with a lot of OBs on the tee,” and added, “I’ve been working on my swing correction since two months ago, but I didn’t get a good result today.” She blamed the tee shot mistakes for her lack of stability.
Playing from the first hole, Yoo got off to a good start with a birdie at the second (par-4). After a bogey on the fifth (par-5), she bounced back with pars on the next eight holes.
On the ninth (par-4), my tee shot faltered dramatically, rolling left and falling into the OB area, and I had to two-putt for a double bogey after four shots to get the ball on the green.
I bogeyed the 10th (par-4), but then had another bad tee shot on the 11th (par-4). This time it went right and landed in the OB area. After the back-to-back tee shots dampened her spirits, Yoo bogeyed the 13th (par-5) and birdied the 15th (par-5) before her tee shot at the 16th (par-4) went into the deep rough on the right side of the fairway. I settled for getting it out of the fairway, and after hitting my third shot to 52 yards in front of the green, I had the ball on the green in four strokes. However, he missed a bogey putt from about three meters and recorded his third double-bogey of the day, following bogeys on the ninth and 11th holes. A bogey on the final 18th (par-4) left her at 7-over par for the day and outside the top 100.
“Playing in a regular tour event is a good experience (for my Dream Tour career), but I don’t think I should play like I did today,” said Yoo. “I’m working on getting better pace control in my swing, but it’s still a work in progress, so I’m making mistakes. Even so, I’m not good at making OBs off the tee, but it was disappointing to have three OBs today,” she said.
With his chances of making the cut on the line, Yoo hoped for a turnaround as he prepared for round two.
“I think I need to go to the practice range for tomorrow and refine my swing again,” she said, “I want to play a game without OB tomorrow.”
Yoo, who played on the KLPGA Tour in 2020, failed to return to the regular tour for the third year in a row after finishing 109th on the money list and losing her seeding. She is playing on the Dream Tour this year, but if she does not finish in the top 20 on the money list, she will have to go through the November seeding round to earn a spot on the regular tour. 꽁머니사이트
“I think this will be my last time competing on the KLPGA regular tour this year,” Yoo said. “In the second half of the year, I will focus more on correcting my swing, and I usually estimate that it takes about a year to correct my swing, but I plan to work hard to complete more than 80% by the end of the year,” she said, hoping for better results.
In the first round of the tournament, which started a day late due to Typhoon Kanun, Jeon Ye-seong and Lee So-young shot a 6-under 66 to share the lead.
The tournament, which canceled its first round on Tuesday, will be reduced from four rounds of 72 holes to three rounds of 54 holes to determine the winner.
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