Hyo Joo Kim holes out for eagle and a 63 to lead Founders Cup at Sharon Heights
MENLO PARK, Calif. (AP) — Hyo Joo Kim capped off a flawless round at Sharon Heights by holing out for eagle on the par-5 18th hole for a 9-under 63 that gave her a two-shot lead in the Fortinet Founders Cup. The best scoring came in the morning at the course hosting an LPGA event for the first time, before the greens began to get firm and fast and made it difficult to get shots close.
Kim was more impressed with keeping bogeys off her card on the tree-lined course than she was with the eagle on the final hole. “I am just so satisfied I had no bogeys,” Kim said. “I had some mistakes in the beginning, but I was able to save them.
I ended with an eagle, so I ended pretty happily. ” As for that eagle? “I couldn't see the hole from where I was, but people started cheering and then I heard a ”Yeah!
" So I figured it went in," Kim said. LPGA rookie Dongeun Lee also had an eagle on the par-5 closing hole, posting a 65. Polly Mack of Germany overcame a double bogey on the par-5 10th on her way to a 66, tied with Jim Hee Im.
Mack missed only two fairways and three greens and let her length and her wedges do the work in making eight birdies to offset the double bogey. “Hit a lot of fairways and greens and left myself with a lot of birdie chances. Had a lot of wedges into greens, and that’s what I’ve been working on the most this offseason,” said Mack, who finished her college career at Alabama.