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SPORTS Friday 5 July 2019
Liu breaks her personal best

for early lead in LPGA event

ONEIDA, Wis. (AP) — One a spot in the Monday quali- so I have good memories,
year after Yu Liu shot her fier, and then gave her an but when you don’t bird-
lowest round on the LPGA exemption when a spot ie a couple in a row, you
Tour at Thornberry Creek came open. know you’re kind of getting
of Oneida, she tied the Sei Young Kim won the a little behind. So I just try to
course record with a 10-un- tournament last year at keep making birdies and
der 62 for a one-shot lead 31-under 257 for a nine- keep staying aggressive.”
in the Thornberry Creek shot victory, so low scoring Lee began her round with
LPGA Classic. at Thornberry Creek is noth- a par on No. 10 and then
“I really like the golf course, ing new. ran off seven birdies over
apparently,” Liu said. “So Tiffany Joh and Nasa Hata- her next eight holes for a 29
it’s just nice to be out here. oka were among those at on the back.
Just great vibes.” 64, while the group two After an eagle on the par-
It was nice for just about shots behind at 65 included 5 third, she already was 9
everyone on a rain-soft- Park, Shanshan Feng and under through 14 holes.
ened course in which Anna Nordqvist, who last Lee had to settle for six pars
nearly half of the 140-play- year shot 67 all four rounds coming in and a 63, her
er field shot in the 60s. Liu, for 20 under and still fin- lowest score in her second
a 23-year-old from China, ished 11 shots behind. year on the LPGA Tour.
had a one-shot lead over “This is just a course that for “There were many birdie
Jeongeun Lee and Yealimi some reason you know you opportunities, but I left a
Noh, who only got into the have to make birdies,” Nor- couple of them out there,” Sung Hyun Park, of South Korea, hits a shot on the 11th hole
tournament through Mon- dqvist said. Lee said. “So that was a during the first round of the Thornberry Creek LPGA Classic golf
day qualifying. “Played well here last year, little disappointing.”q tournament Thursday, July 4, 2019, in Oneida, Wis.
Associated Press
Sung Hyun Park, who won
last week in Arkansas to re-
turn to No. 1 in the world,
opened with a 65.
Liu started on No. 10 and
shot a 30 on the back nine,
including an eagle on the
par-5 13th hole.
She thought her score
could have been lower,
especially after failing to
birdie two of the par 5s, in-
cluding her last hole at No.
9.
Even so, she did what was
required on a course that
felt like target practice.
“It was playing pretty soft,
so it takes a lot of the pres-
sure off for the approach
shots because you know
where you land is pretty
much where you’re go-
ing to finish,” Liu said. “So
not much calculation was
needed. I was just hitting it
pretty solid.”
It wasn’t easy for every-
one, particularly Presley
Cornelius.
Cornelius is an amateur
from Wisconsin and an
Oneida Tribal member
who was given a sponsor
exemption. She made only
three pars, had no birdies
and finished with a 96. The
LPGA Tour no longer has
the “88 Rule” that banned
players from competition
for a year if they are not
LPGA Tour members and
fail to break 88.
According to www.wis-
consin.golf, the Oneida
Nation first gave Cornelius