In a thrilling display of talent at the JM Eagle LA Championship, Ingrid Lindblad and Ashleigh Buhai have both positioned themselves atop the leaderboard at El Caballero Country Club. Lindblad equaled her best-ever tournament performance with a career-low, 9-under (63) on Saturday. Her 7-under 65 for the day made her total 13-under 131, tying her with Buhai’s two-round score.
Lindblad, one of the biggest rising stars in women’s golf, proved her exceptional talents with an amazing performance round one. She conquered the first 14 holes by shooting 10 birdies and just one bogey. Her potent performance clearly caught fire this week, especially as she entered the final weekend with big mo.
For Buhai, it was quite the start having opened her tournament with an impressive 63. She has continued her dominant play and will enter a second straight day tied for the lead. The South African golfer is no stranger to high-stakes play. She won the 2022 Women’s British Open, marking her first of two LPGA Tour victories.
In a deep professional field, Yan Liu turned heads by starting out with a bang, firing an unprecedented 63 on day one. After a 70 in round two, she dropped to fourth, her total of 11-under par. Meantime, Minjee Lee lurking at 12-under after a 65 posted earlier today. Nelly Korda, arguably the biggest star in women’s golf, is well positioned at 9-under after a round of 68. She’s looking to repeat next week in Houston at the Chevron Championship.
Asterisk Talley, one of the finest competitors we’ve seen in this championship. Not so fast, says Rose Zhang. This 16-year-old from California recently took runner-up honors at Augusta National Women’s Amateur. Despite her prodigious talent, Talley ultimately came up just one stroke short of the cut after rounds of 69 and 72. Last year, she secured second place at El Caballero during the U.S. Girls Junior tournament, highlighting her consistent performance at competitive levels.
As the tournament carries deeper into the weekend, tournament players are still deeply committed to their performance.
“It wasn’t just like tap-ins for par. It was 10-footers, 17-footers. I read the greens really well. Thought I had good speed on the greens. Really just one putt that ran away from me and I three-putted it.” – Ingrid Lindblad
“I feel like if you put the work in, like eventually it’s going to show up.” – Ingrid Lindblad
“In the middle of the front nine just had a little bit after hiccup with kind of a silly double and a bogey to back it up,” – Nelly Korda
“So, fought my way back to even through nine and kind of played some solid golf on the back nine.” – Nelly Korda
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