CINCINNATI, Ohio (AFP) — After a rousing start, Dottie Ardina of the Philippines eyes another round of successfully getting the feel of Kenwood Country Club in Friday’s second round of the LPGA Queen City Championship.
After all, it’s what enabled her to stay within sight of the lead on Thursday.
She got off to a roaring opening round, birdieing seven of the first 10 holes to stay just a shot off the leader, China’s Liu Ruixin.
The only thing that stopped the 29-year-old Ardina’s rampage was the bogey on the 12th, but she kept steady down the stretch to submit a six-under-par 66 and join three others at second spot.
Ardina put together her blistering front nine despite not having played those holes in her practice round.
“I was just kind of winging it out there this afternoon,” she said.
“I was just trying to hit fairways and greens. Obviously, the greens are kind of fast this week compared to last week, so I was definitely making putts the first 10 holes, which is really nice.”
Cut during her last two tournaments, Ardina is fighting for a strong finish here, shooting down birdies on the Nos. 2, 4, 5, 7, 8, 9 and 10.
Ardina’s best finish this season was T26 at both Dana Open and Dow Great Lakes Bay. But she’s not putting pressure on herself.
“I think it’s also I had a good numbers on my approach shots. It wasn’t in between clubs at first, so I was just like hitting my numbers and leaving it, you know, where the easiest putt and making the putt,” Ardina said.
Bianca Pagdanganan struggled with a 73 and is in danger of missing the cut, while Philippine-born Japanese Yuka Saso is tied for 21st with a 69.
Ruixin’s hot putter helped her shrug off severe allergies and grab the first-round lead on seven-under-par 65.
The 24-year-old needed just 27 putts in her bogey-free round and admitted she hadn’t expected to find herself at the top of the leaderboard — one stroke in front of Elizabeth Szokol, Dottie Ardina, Linnea Strom and Chien Peiyun.
“I don’t know how I did this good, but it happened and I’m very happy to take it,” said Liu, who said she was still “not clear” from the allergies that prompted her to withdraw from last week’s Portland Classic.
She said it was her putting that made the difference in a round that saw her birdie five of the first nine holes before adding two more coming in.
“I pretty much made everything except for hole No. 12,” Liu said. “That’s the only bad hole I played today, because my second shot was only like 18 feet to the hole for eagle and I three-putt that one.”
She got up and down for par at 18 to grab a clubhouse lead that held up as the afternoon wore on.
Sweden’s Strom and Taiwan’s Chien also had seven birdies and one bogey while American Szokol had six birdies without a bogey to join the group sharing second on 66.
Another half-dozen players were tied on 67: Australian Minjee Lee, France’s Perrine Delacour, Denmark’s Emily Kristine Pedersen, England’s Charley Hull and South Koreans Ryu Hae-ran and Choi Hye-jin.
