Sunny skies greeted us again at Sebonack Golf Club for day one of the U.S Women’s Open. Apart from a brief shower mid-morning the conditions were perfect for Major championship golf. I was fortunate enough to start my day with a behind the scenes tour from Joe Camillo who works in Championships at the USGA. His primary role is to manage the scoring systems across their various championships. Joe showed me the inner workings of their impressive live scoring system, the massive TV compounds of NBC and ESPN, as well as a visit to the Media Centre. I then ventured on course to catch some of the action. First stop was Karrie Webb who was playing alongside Lexi Thompson and Ai Miyazato. Karrie started her round superbly with two birdies in the first three holes. Unfortunately she quickly dropped back to 3-over par through the 9th hole. I caught her again with four holes to play and still sitting at three over par. The putts started to drop and she finished well with birdies on the 16th and 17th holes to shoot one over par and finish in equal 22nd for the morning round. Lexi and Ai finished at 3-over and 4-over par respectively. Karrie s number one fans this week, Su Oh and Minjee Lee, certainly cheered loudly and I m sure Karrie appreciated their support. World Number 1 Inbee Park continued to impress today and it was great to see her in action alongside Stacy Lewis and Suzann Pettersen. She played consistently well and hardly missed a green or fairway. She was calm, cool and collected and was so impressive on the greens. She had six birdies and one bogey in her round to finish at 5-under the card. Minjee, Su and I were lucky enough to sit in on her press conference in the Media Centre. Inbee said that the USGA had set the course up in a way today which gave players every chance to score low. Forward tee boxes meant shorter approach shots and the chance to attack the pins. Her short game is impeccable and in my view she’s the one to beat. Following that I roamed the course and caught some action from fellow Aussie Katherine Hull-Kirk and former Women’s Australian Open Champion Yani Tseng who was playing alongside Paula Creamer. Four out of the five Aussies are in the top 40 which is fantastic and we&aposre all looking forward to tomorrow.
Author: Emily Miller / Golf Australia