Ji Eun Baik (Cumming, Georgia) missed the first two cuts of the 2021 season on the Epson Tour. Despite not seeing results she wanted, today was a clear sign her off-season works is paying off. Baik hit 13 out of 14 fairways and had two sand saves finishing the day 5-under par and it tied for second going into round two.

“The course is in really nice shape and it’s beautiful. For someone who is from the east coast it’s not common getting to play these kinds of courses. I really enjoyed out there today. I feel like the conditions are very fair, the only thing is the wind,” said Baik.

“I don’t have that much experience playing in this kind of wind. Probably as much as anyone from the east coast, but I learned not to fight it. Today I was definitely hitting all the fairways and making sure I put myself in good position. I was also making a lot of putts, so that was very fun.”

Baik is competing in her fourth season on the “Road to the LPGA.” In thirty starts in her career, Baik claimed two top-10 finishes. After finishing today with bogey on No. 9 she acknowledged she is continuing to work on her weaknesses.

“Not my best finish. I didn’t have a three putt all day and I did it on the last hole,” said Baik. “I can’t just ignore that. I have to know this is my weakness, I get nervous, but I need to learn and enjoy to play with those nerves. I am not going to forget, I’ll forget the bad feeling of it, but make sure it doesn’t happen again.”

NOTABLE QUOTES

Morgane Metraux (-5, T2) on course and weather conditions:

“I really love desert golf in general, so this fits my eye really well. It was really calm this morning so I took advantage of it and I am really happy about my round. I hit a lot of fairways, I hit a lot of greens, didn’t make any mistakes and didn’t go into any places where I shouldn’t have gone. I only made one bogey which was good too.”

Maude-Aimee Leblanc (-5, T2) on carding a 5-under par on the back nine:

“I took advantage of the par-5’s today. It wasn’t as windy when we started so I think I could control the ball a little better, but I was not expecting to shoot a low score on that side of the course today. To me the other side of the course is easier but that is golf, I guess.”

Lucy Li (-4, T6) on finding momentum on the back-nine and staying patient with the wind:

“It felt really good. I started off kind of rocky and then I started rolling in some putts on the back nine which was a good confidence booster. I hit a couple of average shots and then made a fifteen-footer. Then on the par-3 I hit a really good tee-shot and thought my putt was short, but it went in. So it was nice to find a bit of a groove there. This course is really nice. It plays pretty easy when there is no wind but obviously the wind kind kicks up it can be pretty challenging so it’s really important to play each hole at a time because you never know when the wind might kick it and makes the course play completely different.”

Baik Takes Time to Reflect on Both Positives and Negatives from Round One

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