Round one of the Inova Mission Inn Resort and Club Championship was unable to finish due to darkness. Before the round was suspended for the day, El Campeón saw some great displays of golf despite the winds on the course. With calm practice round days, the field was in for a new challenge when they teed up their ball for the first-round.
Jiwon Jeon was already in a good mood to start her day, because it was not just another day for her, it was her birthday. Little did the now 26-year-old know that she was going to put together a seven-under 66 and lead the tournament by three-shots on day one.
“Honestly, I have never played well on my birthday," said Jeon. "This is the first time I have had a really great day on my birthday, so I was very happy with that.”
Jeon’s round was more than impressive. As the wind picked up later in the day, the course started to show its teeth. Jeon did not seem to be phased by the course that was seemingly getting everyone else to slip up. She would go bogey-free on her closing nine that included four birdies to put an exclamation point on her day.
“I was just trying to concentrate on each shot and just trust the process,” said Jeon. "I did a really great job today. I am really proud of myself for the way I was able to commit to each shot and just shoot a low score today.”
Wind is not a new concept for the Epson Tour this year and Jeon was able to draw on her past few weeks to help her throughout her first 18 holes at the Inova Mission Inn Resort and Club Championship.
“The past few tournaments we have had we played in some very windy conditions,” explained Jeon. “They helped me handle this wind throughout this round. I was really just focused on hitting my target and not really looking at the pin. I was just doing that really well today and wasn’t missing a lot of shots.”
Trying to track down Jeon heading into round two is Laetitia Beck who is currently tied for second and was able to card a bogey-free 69 (-4) to start her tournament. Beck has had a solid start to her 2023 season, only missing one cut in her seven events played. The four-under round was the best start she has had to open up a tournament this year as she tries to capture her first career Epson Tour victory.
“I made it a little harder on myself on some holes but overall, I was just hitting fairways and greens,” said Beck. "Then I was able to make some really good up and downs when I needed to.”
Beck is grouped with last week’s champion Jenny Coleman and was able to grab some inspiration from the newest Epson Tour champion.
“I played very simple,” said Beck. “I played with Jenny Coleman, and I just saw how consistent she was. She was going low to start the day and I was just a couple under, but she was just hitting greens and fairways, so I drew from that to help me.”
Rounding out the top of the leaderboard is Nataliya Guseva who is T2 after a -4 (69) followed by a group of six players sitting at -3 for their tournament and currently T4.
QUICK QUOTES
Kristen Gillman (-3, T4) on a strong first round despite a few hiccups:
“I haven’t had that good of a tournament so far this year, so I was feeling a little nervous when I was starting to go low, but I feel like today was pretty solid for me for the most part. I really just had two bad holes in a row but other than that I had six birdies on the day, and I am very happy with where I finished.”
Tristyn Nowlin (-3, T4) on her building confidence and playing more free:
“It was a fun round which is funny to say because I have kind of been struggling with my swing, so the confidence hasn’t really been there. I have been trying to let things go and realize golf is an imperfect game. So I was trying to embrace the game I had for the day and I was able to make it work.”
Ana Belac (-3, T4) on a solid round despite tough conditions:
“I came out here with no expectations and I was kind of relaxed. I was in the afternoon wave, so I saw that -4 was out there today even though it was a little tougher in the afternoon. I just knew if I kept hitting good shots and made a few putts it would go well. Overall, it was a very solid round.”
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