Woods was hosting his TGR Jr. Invitational at The Hay, the Pebble Beach Par 3 course he designed a few years back, when the magic happened with a boy named Holden Bautista. Check out the moment this young dude will never forget:

Ace AND a congrats from Tiger as an 11-year-old.

Legend.#TeamTaylorMade @TaylorMadeGolf pic.twitter.com/0Lvt2xjzr8

— Fore Play (@ForePlayPod) October 8, 2023

Well, two moments. You’ve got the hole-in-one AND a congratulatory handshake from the GOAT himself. Talk about having a day! And it was a similar situation to what happened at another Tiger design a few years back. Incredible.

And how about that message from Tiger? “I’m proud of you,” Woods says after handing Holden a keepsake commemorating the moment. “Keep it going.”

Inspiring! And it was all captured on video. Little man is going to be the big man on campus when he returns to school. Well, assuming kids still know who Tiger Woods is these days. Please come back soon, Tiger.

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The Links at Spanish Bay opened in 1987, and it quickly garnered notoriety. The layout, designed by Robert Trent Jones Jr, Tom Watson and former USGA president Sandy Tatum on the site of a former sand mine, has remained mostly untouched until now.

Pebble Beach Resorts announced on Tuesday that The Links at Spanish Bay will undergo a renovation by Gil Hanse and Jim Wagner’s team.

“The Links at Spanish Bay possesses nearly every raw element you’d want in a golf course, from expansive ocean views to rolling, sandy terrain,” Hanse said. “With these natural attributes already in place, our team will have a significant head start on delivering a final product that will be in the top echelon of ‘must play’ courses.”

When Spanish Bay opened, Pebble Beach Resorts dubbed the course as “America’s first links golf experience.” Ron Whitten wrote at the time that Spanish Bay wasn’t a totally authentic links — pointing to a handful of greens being elevated. Tatum took issue with Whitten’s assessment, but it’s safe to say Hanse and Wagner will aim to transform the course back to its roots, playing to the incredible sand-based topography overlooking 17-Mile Drive that the course sits on. Pebble Beach officials say there’s no timeline yet for when work might begin.

Hanse and Wagner have received recognition and praise in recent years for their restorations of numerous major championship venues, including Winged Foot, The Country Club, Los Angeles Country Club, Oakland Hills, Oakmont and Baltusrol, among many others. Yet it’s their 2018 redesign of Pinehurst No. 4 that may be most like their task at Spanish Bay. After many alterations by various architects, Pinehurst No. 4 struggled to find its own identity in the shadow of the famed No. 2 course until Hanse and Wagner re-energised the course with the sand-and-pine characteristics the region is known for.

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Allisen Corpuz set the expectations for how she would approach the final round of the 78th US Women’s Open on Saturday night. With the sun setting over Pebble Beach Golf Links following her third consecutive under-par round, the 25-year-old Hawaii native explained that while one stroke off the lead with a chance to win her first LPGA event, her goal was still the same as it was at every tournament to date in 2023, her second year on the LPGA: become more comfortable with how it feels to be in contention. Nearly three months earlier, Corpuz went through a similar learning experience at the Chevron Championship, when she shared the lead through 54 holes only to finish T-4 with a closing 74. She didn’t win, but she did mature, preparing herself for the next time.

Come Sunday, however, Corpuz surpassed what even she believed she could accomplish with a dominant closing three-under-par 69, overcoming a one-stroke deficit to win by three shots with a nine-under 279 total. “My mind is racing,” Corpuz said. “Like I said yesterday, this is really a dream come true. It was something I had dreamed of, but at the same time kind of just never really expected it to happen.”

Corpuz’s journey from “sucking” at golf, as she described when she started playing at age 4, to becoming the first female to win a major championship at Pebble (and claiming the $2 million first-place prize money payout) has been built on a foundation of self-reflection. Since picking up the sport, Corpuz says her motivation has come from focusing the simple notion of improving every time she plays.

Not wanting to be terrible drove her to continue playing alongside her father, Marcos. Corpuz developed her game during a junior career that included 17 USGA championship appearances and a record performance as the youngest golfer (age 10) to play the US Women’s Amateur Public Links in 2008, breaking the mark held by fellow Hawaiian Michelle Wie West.

Fitting, then, Corpuz applied the lessons of losing at the Chevron in April for her breakthrough victory Sunday. After giving her mom, May, a hug on the first tee box, Corpuz implemented her newly honed approach.

“I think I’ve just played a little conservatively in the past, and just really went out there and told myself I had the game to do it today,” Corpuz said.

Corpuz made six birdies as she played her way around Pebble Beach. Her third birdie came on the par-3 seventh, where her caddie Jay Monahan said that Corpuz suggested taking a wedge straight at the flag on the short downhill hole. If the wind took it left, so be it. Their process, honed over two seasons of working together, involved Monahan pushing back if he felt differently. Happy with the aggressive choice, Monahan signed off. Corpuz’s wedge flew true, leaving herself a 10-footer.

“This course does offer those [birdie] opportunities if you can get them,” Monahan said. “It’s just little things like that. But she took the strides that she needed to [in order to win].”

The rapport between Allisen Corpuz and her caddie Jay Monahan help her stay calm during Sunday’s final round. Harry How

Corpuz wound up being the only player in the field to shoot under par all four days at Pebble with scores of 69-70-71-69. Tied with Hataoka with nine holes to play, Corpuz played a sublime back-nine, taking a four-shot lead at one point and leaving little room for doubt as to who would be the winner.

That doesn’t mean there weren’t moments of nervousness. Corpuz explained that at times, she did get ahead of herself, imagining the Harton S. Semple Trophy in her hands early in her round.

“I made the birdie at 1, 3, and just kind of told myself, stay in the moment,” Corpuz said. “It’s obviously not done yet. Still a lot of golf to play. I think that was the moment when I kind of knew I just need to get home.”

To ground herself back into the present moment, Corpuz leaned on work she has been doing with her mental coach, Bill Nelson. That involves trying to keep things slow while on the course. Corpuz reminded herself every few holes she was at Pebble Beach, soaking in the sun-splashed views that golf fans dream about.

While Corpuz faced the prospect of slowing down too much—she and Hataoka were put on the clock early on the back nine and Corpuz was one more slow time away from getting a penalty shot—she stuck to the routine she had followed since childhood. Before each shot, Corpuz leans slightly to the left, closes her left eye, raises her club, and stares down her target. In a brief moment, Corpuz plans out what she wants the shot to do, steps up to the ball, and executes.

Learning how to win was a process for Corpuz in college as well. Justin Silverstein, the women’s coach at USC who secured Corpuz’s commitment to play for the Trojans when she was heading into ninth grade, explained that she diligently journaled each day. Corpuz jotted down what went well and what didn’t. However, early in her collegiate career, Corpuz would almost adjust too quickly, trying to make constant adjustments rather than give herself the space to simply recover from a bad shot. While Corpuz won for the first time as a sophomore, it took until her fifth year on the team to become more consistent player. Corpuz won twice in 2021, her final season before turning professional.

With a successful drive off Pebble’s 18th tee, Corpuz claimed her first career LPGA Tour title without much 72nd-hole stress. Harry How

“[Her thoughtfulness] helps a majority of the time,” Silverstein said. “But I think also, at times in her past held her back a little bit with just a little too much analysis.”

With her first professional win in hand, a major no less, Corpuz kept her aspirations low for the future. Instead of imagining becoming a top 10 golfer in the world, a Solheim Cup player and being included in the conversation with the likes of Jin Young Ko and Nelly Korda, Corpuz envisioned a simple wish as she was standing alongside the glistening Pacific.

“I love it,” Corpuz said of Pebble Beach. “I hope I get a chance to come back.”

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Corpuz, 25, a University of Southern California graduate and twice an All-American, began the final round trailing by one and wrested control of the national championship on the back nine, beginning with a birdie at the 10th hole. She added birdies at 14 and 15 en route to a three-under-par 69 and a three-stroke victory.

“Unreal. This week has just felt like a dream come true,” Corpuz said. “It’s been awesome to be out at Pebble this week. Every few holes I kind of looked out and said, ‘I’m out here at Pebble Beach. There’s not many places better than this.’ I just tried to keep grounded and play my game.”

It was her first victory as a professional and came on one of golf’s grandest stages, earning her a payday of $2 million, the largest in women’s golf. To say it was an upset is only marginally an understatement. She came into the US Women’s Open 29th in the Rolex Rankings, and in two previous major championships this year, she tied for fourth in the Chevron Championship and tied for 15th in the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship.

She completed 72 holes in 10-under-par 278 with rounds of 69, 70, 71 and 69. England’s Charley Hull had the round of the day, a six-under-par 66 that enabled her to climb to a tie for second with Korean Jiyai Shin.

On Friday, Wie West, who won the 2014 U.S Women’s Open at Pinehurst, played what she said was her final competitive round and missed the cut. Corpuz did not arrive with the same fanfare as Wie West, but she was among those Hawaiian junior golfers to draw inspiration from her.

“I think she was just old enough where I never really interacted with her too much,” Corpuz said on Saturday. “But she’s done so much to put Hawaii golf on the map, women’s golf. Yeah, I have always been inspired by her. Definitely grew up watching her kill it out here, and it’s awesome to see her transition into the next phase of her life.”

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It is a shot so rare and bold that Rose Zhang had never used it in a tournament. And that makes it all the more impressive how she pulled it off in the first round of the US Women’s Open at Pebble Beach.

Late Thursday, with the skies dark and a light drizzle in the air, Zhang missed her target on the par-3 17th, coming up short and right of the back-left pin placement. When she arrived at her ball, a putt just didn’t seem feasible, since she’d have to navigate the ridge by rolling her ball over the fringe.

MORE: Rose Zhang suffers a disaster at Pebble’s difficult eighth hole

Leave this one to the pros. ?@rosezhang #USWomensOpen pic.twitter.com/H7k6PfbeBX

— U.S. Women's Open (USGA) (@uswomensopen) July 7, 2023

So Zhang decided to use a wedge on the green—something golf fans saw once over a few years while watching golf. It’s one of those shots that make superintendents cringe because nobody wants to see a dollar-size divot taken out of green. Particularly not on the first day of a major championship. It requires the most exacting of swings.

“Funny thing is I’ve never done that before in competition. Yeah, the first time. So there is always something new,” Zhang, standing behind the 18th green, said with a laugh after her round of two-over-par 74, which left her tied for 39th, six shots off the lead of Xiyu Lin.

How about in practice?

“I definitely have,” she said. “When I’m practising with my teammates, we all have a bit of fun, and we like to practice wedges on greens. So it’s a bit of a fun game, but it’s weird that it’s actually in practice when I’m not playing.”

So on Thursday, with 53 feet to the hole, Zhang executed her pitch to near perfection, with the ball looking like it was going to drop in before drifting less than an inch to the left. Zhang picked it so cleanly that the only thing she disturbed on the green was gathering dew.

“It was a bit risky,” Zhang said, then converting the tap in for par, “but I felt like it was my shot of the day.”

When he needed it most.@GaryWoodland wows with the wedge.

He'll take a 2-shot lead to 18. pic.twitter.com/H522Q3AUFx

— PGA TOUR (@PGATOUR) June 17, 2019

What Zhang didn’t know, or had forgotten, was the history of that very wedge shot on the 17th green. In the final round of the 2019 US Open, with eventual champion Gary Woodland leading by two shots, he ended up in a similar shop to a similar pin. He too pulled it off, with the commentators raving about how remarkable it was under pressure. Frankly, Zhang’s was probably executed better. But no matter. Both were examples of skills not owned by mere mortals.

MORE: Rose Zhang—The secret behind the sweetest swing in golf

Talking to reporters, Zhang was trying to place the Woodland shot in her mind, and then her agent quickly found it on his phone. She beamed while watching it.

“Dude, that’s crazy,” Zhang said. “Oh. Wait, wait, wait. I did see this shot. … It’s all coming back. Yeah, I don’t know where I was, but it was definitely on TV.”

And now Zhang has her memorable clip at 17, just like Woodland and Tom Watson. That’s a pretty sweet club to join.

The post Rose Zhang pulls off this boss move using a wedge on Pebble’s 17th green, and learns the lore about it later appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

Bailey Tardy nearly didn’t get into the US Women’s Open at Pebble Beach for one reason—procrastination. She almost didn’t sign up for the final qualifier, saying she had no interest in battling through 36 holes in one day. It took pushing from her mother to sign up.

“My mom would tell me you need to sign up, you need to sign up, you need to sign up, and then I just never did,” Tardy said. “That’s just kind of how it happened. Big ol’ procrastination.”

After grudgingly signing up, and then surviving a four-hole playoff at the qualifier, Tardy has put in an out-of-nowhere 69-68 performance to lead the second round of US Women’s Open at seven under par. She’s done so on the strength of making an eagle both days on the par-5 sixth hole.

To appease her mom’s wishes, Tardy, 26, searched for a qualifier in the spring. She settled on Somerset Country Club in Mendota Heights, Minn., where two players would advance. When Tardy bogeyed the 36th hole to finish with a four-under total, she figured she’d be one of the alternates and returned to her hotel room.

After packing, showering and changing, Tardy received word that fellow LPGA player Jennifer Chang three-putted the last hole to end up tied with Tardy, while a pregnant Amy Olson took the top spot at six under. Tardy scrambled to get back to Somerset for a playoff.

“I threw golf clothes back on, found my golf shoes, hit about 15 balls, and just went and played four more holes, which felt like an eternity,” Tardy said.

Solo leader Bailey Tardy put on a spin show at Pebble Beach. ? #USWomensOpen pic.twitter.com/Yts17kL3of

— U.S. Women's Open (USGA) (@uswomensopen) July 7, 2023

She prevailed over Chang by making a 20-foot birdie on the fourth playoff hole to get into her fourth US Women’s Open. Tardy played in 2014, 2016 and 2017, missed all three cuts and only shot one round under par.

Tardy has had a challenging rookie LPGA season, missing five cuts and withdrawing one week after shooting 85. The 455th player in the Rolex Women’s World Rankings has posted seven rounds of 75 or worse over the last two months. Her best finish is a T-24 at the Lotte Championship in April. It doesn’t exactly signal someone who would be at the top of a major leaderboard.

“Other people might not, but I’ve always believed in myself to win any tournament that I enter,” Tardy said. “I’m good enough to be here, and I’ve been on the LPGA, so I feel like I definitely have the game to hang with the best in the world.”

Tardy is not only hanging with but has surpassed the best in the world on just two of Pebble’s most iconic holes. She is six under on the par-5 sixth and par-3 seventh combined, eagling No. 6 on Thursday and Friday. That’s half of the eagles recorded on the cliffside par 5.

Tardy has leaned on the knowledge she received from playing Pebble Beach for the first time last November before going to the LPGA’s Q-Series to earn her tour card for the first time.

Bailey Tardy made the most of Friday at the #USWomensOpen. ? pic.twitter.com/QGpMRHsXrb

— U.S. Women's Open (USGA) (@uswomensopen) July 7, 2023

Instead of imagining what could be after making the first major cut of her career, Tardy is soaking in the serenity of Pebble Beach. She said she pauses to smile at the dogs along the ninth and 10th holes and points out the sea life. Tardy said she will head to Big Sur with family for dinner, soaking in all she can of the Pacific coastline.

“This is a dream, being at the top of the leaderboard in a US Open,” Tardy said. “Just being able to take in all of this. I have got my family here, so just having them to keep my mind off of golf at night, it’s just fun. I’ve really enjoyed all of this.”

In regard to her performance this week, Tardy points to a putting overhaul last week. She put her putter in a three-day timeout after a missed cut at the KPMG Women’s PGA, frustrated with a first-round 36-putt effort that led to a three-over 75 despite hitting 14 greens.

She then did short game work with Gareth Raflewski. To get some better mojo, Tardy swapped putter covers, using a special Callaway putter cover from a Korn Ferry Tour event from Springfield, Ill. She chuckled while recalling the unique design, with the famed cartoon character Homer Simpson alongside his favourite food.

“I love doughnuts,” Tardy said.

No, she did not procrastinate with that answer.

The post Self-proclaimed procrastinator Bailey Tardy nearly didn’t register for Women’s Open qualifying, now leads at midway point appeared first on Golf Digest Middle East.

1. The right “approach” pays off

Hyo-Joo Kim and Xiyu Lin shared the Day 1 lead with matching four-under 68s. Kim and Lin were also first (4.48) and third (3.77), respectively, in SG/putting. Only Nasa Hataoka (eighth) of the six players at T-3 is in the top 10 of SG/putting.

However, the majority of players in the top 10 on the leaderboard are also in top 12 in SG/approach with amateur Aine Donegan in first (4.35), Allisen Corpuz in fourth (3.78), Bailey Tardy in fifth (3.58), Hae Ran Ryu in sixth (3.58), Leona Maguire in eighth (3.28), and Hataoka in 12th (3.05). Surprisingly, the leaders trail by a decent margin, with Kim in 25th (1.9) and Lin in 38th (1.43).

2. Annika Sorenstam’s still got it … around the green

Ezra Shaw

Posting an 80, even for Sorenstam at 52, seems inconceivable for one of the game’s all-time greats. Sorenstam finished in last in SG/off the tee, making sense, given she only hit one fairway. A lone bright spot was ending up with 2.51 SG/around the green, the sixth-best in the field. While her capabilities on a major venue are different from what they were in her prime, the 72-time winner needed no data to know the best part of her game Thursday.

“I’m disappointed in that [80], but I fought really hard,” Sorenstam said. “I thought I made some great saves. It sounds funny when you have this score, but I did.”

3. An amateur leads the field in this SG stat

Donegan, an amateur from Ireland who plays college golf at LSU, posted a 69 despite her clubs not arriving until Tuesday. That makes her 4.35 SG/approach stat even more impressive, particularly too considering she hit only 12 greens in regulation. The Irishwoman bested defending US Women’s Open champion Minjee Lee in the category, with the Australian sitting at 4.05 SG/approach.

Donegan’s driver clubhead also arrived smashed to Pebble Beach, but she raved about the replacement one she put into her bag this week, saying it fueled her ability to play well into the greens by outperforming the field from the tee box as well. Donegan sits in second in SG/off the tee (1.58).

4. One of the most consistent US Women’s Open performers leads SG/off the tee

Harry How

Megan Khang has rattled off three consecutive top-10s at the US Women’s Open and is lurking at five shots off the pace after the first round. Her secret sauce might lie in her ability from the tee, as finding 13 of 14 fairways contributed to her leading 1.84 SG/off the tee. That’s .26 ahead of Donegan. In a reminder of how distinct SG/off the tee is, compared to driving distance, the longest player in the field Thursday, Amelia Garvey, sits in 114th in SG/off the tee at -.39.

5. Michelle Wie West didn’t lie—she doesn’t like putting drills

Entering Wie West’s final competitive start, she shared the thing she won’t miss the most.

“The putting drills that I’m doing, you’d best believe I’m not going to do another putting drill for the rest of my life if I don’t need to,” Wie West said.

Fitting, then, that the 2014 US Women’s Open winner finished last in the field in SG/putting at -4.18. Wie West carded a 79, sitting T-126. Impressively, she kept her touch, finishing 11th in SG/around the green (2.01).

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It is the most knee-knocking, white-knuckle shot in all of golf. None other than Jack Nicklaus deemed it the “most dramatic.” And why not? On the eighth hole at Pebble Beach, players stand on an outcropping of land, the Pacific Ocean 70 feet below.

In 2022, Jordan Spieth created the most news about the eighth in years when he chose to hit a shot near the precipice. Spieth would later admit, “I wish I hadn’t done it. In fact, I regret doing it.”

On Thursday in the US Women’s Open, there was a different kind of drama with one of the game’s young stars. With the players forsaking their longest shots for fear of driving over the cliff’s edge, they were laying back off the tee. Rose Zhang, who had just birdied the seventh to get to two under, hit a 189-yard tee shot that left her with a long carry, 202 yards to the flagstick. The air was damp and cold, and the wind seemed to be crossing across the players’ faces.

MORE: LPGA rookie DQ’d from Open for caddie using range finder

Zhang chose a wood, but from the moment she struck it, she watched anxiously as her ball dipped like a seagull into the brush on the bank in front of the green. From the movement of the marshals (or lack thereof), they clearly didn’t see where the ball flew in.

The trouble, in this case, was that Zhang had to walk to the hole and look for the ball. Maybe this wasn’t quite as daring as Spieth’s move, but Zhang did climb several feet down looking. Not able to find her ball, she had to take the ride of shame in a golf cart back to the top of the cliff to play what would be her fourth shot after the penalty.

From 172 yards, Zhang hit a beautiful shot onto the green, giving her a 13-foot putt for what would have been a very impressive bogey. But she missed on her roll and suffered a double-bogey that knocked her back to even par and off the first page of the leaderboard.

This would be no solace to Zhang, but she was not alone in her misery at No. 8. For the day to that point, there had been seven other double bogeys and one 7 to go with 34 bogeys. The hole was playing as the fourth-hardest in the round.

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At 8:50 a.m. local time Thursday, the trio of World No. 1 Jin Young Ko, No. 2 Nelly Korda and 11-time LPGA winner Lexi Thompson teed off on the 10th hole of the Pebble Beach Golf Links in the first round of the 78th US Women’s Open. About 15 minutes and 16 shots played later, the seaside links already had shown its bite. Korda opened the tournament by slicing her drive over the cliff and eventually made a double bogey. Ko drove into the left fairway bunker while Thompson hit into the left rough, and both made bogey.

Welcome to the first women’s major played on this famed course. Ko ended up shooting a shocking 79, Korda scored 76 and Thompson “won” the group with a 74.

“Hard,” Thompson said when asked how the course was playing. “I know there could be a lot more wind than there is today. It always plays difficult. Tee shots are hard, and bunkers have a lot of sand and the rough is up really thick. It’s definitely a major championship golf course.”

Pity the players who had to start in a light mist on the par-4 10th. The 428-yarder on the cliffs above Carmel Beach played as the hardest hole for the morning wave, at nearly a half-stroke over par (.46). Only 29 per cent of the first 78 players hit the green.

Don’t tell the players starting on 1 that they had it easy. The true opener played as the fifth-hardest hole, and in an example of how treacherous any misses at Pebble can be. Jennifer Kupcho hit her first tee ball in the afternoon wave into the left rough. She slashed her next shot only 47 yards, the ball being swallowed in the thick eyelashes of a bunker. Kupcho then all but shanked the third shot right and eventually made a double bogey.

The unknown of how the women would fare in major conditions at Pebble was a fascinating prospect heading into the championship. From the looks of early play on Thursday, as long as the conditions are benign, which they were on this morning, there are players who have answers for this test. But for those who aren’t feeling sharp, they will be absolutely exposed because of deep rough everywhere, along with finding and then putting on Pebble’s claustrophobic greens. Thirty-five players in the morning shot 76 or higher.

Xiyu Lin plays her second shot on the 10th hole during the first round of the 78th US Women’s Open. Ezra Shaw

China’s Xiyu Lin, a 27-year-old who tied for third in the recent KPMG Women’s PGA Championship at Baltrusrol, managed the layout beautifully, suffering only a single bogey on her last hole, the ninth, to shoot a four-under-par 68 and take the clubhouse lead. Lin is not a long hitter and averaged only 254 yards off the tee in Round 1, but she was in the fairway most of the time (12 of 14) and gained nearly four strokes on the early competitors in putting.

Making strong pars at Pebble Beach is critical, and they don’t come better than Lin’s 4 at the No. 8. Her tee shot travelled only 172 yards, leaving her a daunting 217-yard shot to the over the cliffside chasm; She answered with near-perfect wood to 18 feet and two-putted for par.

Others didn’t fare as well. There were 14 bogeys, two doubles and one 7 at No. 8 in the morning. Only three players made birdie.

The most shocking result came from Ko, a two-time major winner who has two victories this year. Among the pre-tournament favourites—and rightfully so, considering she spent more than a week practising at Pebble—the World No. 1 made six bogeys and a stunning double bogey on the par-3 17th when she hooked a wood into Stillwater Cove. That is a miss that a Pebble Beach golf tourist would cringe at. Ko’s 79 put her near last in the morning wave; she only beat 52-year-old Annika Sorenstam by one shot and tied Amy Olson, who is seven months pregnant.

The adage at Pebble Beach is that you have to make hay on the first seven holes before holding on eighth and onward. But that only played out in a minor way early, with the front playing three-quarters of a stroke easier, with the total score average of 74.63.

Beyond the 10th, the dogleg par-4 16th, playing at 377 yards, was the second hardest, yielding zero birdies and 22 scores of par or worse. The 429-yard ninth was playing predictably hard with an average of 4.35.

The easiest hole in the morning was the uphill par-5 sixth, which gave up 28 birdies, followed by the 308-yard par-4 fourth and 367-yard 15th. The little par-3 seventh, one of the most photographed holes in the world, was set at 113 yards and allowed 15 birdies but exacted 14 bogeys. And the 18th, as one of the greatest finishing holes in the game, was not laying down, playing at 5.14 average strokes.

Even in the more playable morning conditions., three of the top-four ranked players in the world (Ko, Korda and Lilia Vu) combined to shoot 18 over par, and Thursday morning’s “featured group” of Ko, Korda and Thompson traversed far more of the Pebble property than they hoped. It was if they fed off negative vibe instead of positive.

Lexi Thompson laid up with an iron on her 18th hole tee shot and eventually made a par. Ezra Shaw

Korda shot herself out of the KPMG Women’s PGA two weeks ago with rounds of 76-77, and with the tough double-bogey start at Pebble, the World No. 2’s body language was not promising. She bogeyed three more holes on her front before making a salvage birdie at 18. Korda rallied with birdies at 3 and 6 but gave the gains back with bogeys at 7 and 8.

In a wild statistical gap, Korda gained 6.47 strokes off the tee and lost 10.59 in short game.

Thompson, who has been struggling badly of late, managed the best score of her trio with a 74. Beyond the bogey at 10 to open, she made a double bogey at No. 1 and bogey at 7. Thompson, one of the longest drivers on tour, also made a curious decision at the 18th. She chose iron off the tee, hit it an impressive 263 yards, but after laying up to 135 yards, Thompson managed an approach to 20 feet and couldn’t make the birdie putt.

Apparently, that big body of water on the left can be very intimidating.

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This week’s US Women’s Open, making its maiden visit to Pebble Beach, is an unprecedented opportunity for professional women’s golf. With it comes 12 hours of weekend coverage that lasts into primetime on the East Coast, an alchemy that provides the LPGA Tour a first-of-its-kind opportunity to reach new audiences.

“Our Golf Channel broadcast from our West Coast [tournaments] are some of our most highly viewed events, and then to have that on NBC Network television in primetime for the first time ever, it’s really, really special,” Golf Channel commentator and former US Women’s Open champion Morgan Pressel said.

MORE: Michelle Wie West prepares to say farewell at Pebble Beach

“Then you put the two of them together. People are going to tune in because they’ve heard of Pebble Beach. They might have never watched an LPGA event in their life, but they’ve heard of Pebble Beach, and here it is on Sunday evening and they’re flipping through channels and they’re like, ‘Wow, this is really amazing; this is some incredible golf. What an exciting event.’”

Building towards this moment, players have clamoured for years about the importance of playing at prestigious venues to entice casual fans to watch them compete. Pebble Beach fits the bill, as golf fans can picture some of the game’s most iconic holes with their eyes closed.

With a simple search on YouTube, you can relive the images of Jack Nicklaus’ 1-iron on 17 at the 1972 US Open, Tom Watson chipping in on the same par 3 to best Nicklaus a decade later, or Tiger Woods’ world-shattering 2000 performance, among many historic golf moments. The LPGA’s players can now benefit from the memories evoked from the six US Opens held at Pebble.

“I think being on iconic venues is a more sustainable improvement for the tour, because it increases the media value, and you have to increase media value to attain more money,” Michelle Wie West, the 2014 US Women’s Open champion, said.

MORE: Rose Zhang owns Pebble Beach scoring record, but US Women’s Open offers different challenge

Visiting heralded golf courses isn’t a one-off trend for the LPGA. Only two weeks ago, the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship was held at New Jersey’s Baltusrol Golf Club, the first time a women’s major was played there since 1985. The AIG Women’s Open was at Muirfield last year, which held 16 Open Championships before the women made their debut, female members were finally admitted in 2019. They’ll return to St. Andrews next year, the second appearance there along with 2007. On its first trip to Southern California, the US Women’s Open goes to Riviera Country Club in 2026. The women return to the West for a major again next year at Sahalee in Sammamish, Wash., for the Women’s PGA.

Two of golf’s biggest attractions, Michelle Wie West and Rose Zhang, walk together during a practice round at Pebble Beach ahead of the US Women’s Open. Kathryn Riley

Visiting West Coast venues paid off recently for the US Women’s Open. Two years ago at The Olympic Club in San Francisco, with seven hours on NBC, the event averaged 600,000 viewers, for a 62-percent increase in viewership year-over-year.

The West Coast boost occurred just two weeks ago at the men’s US Open at Los Angeles Country Club, where ratings averaged 3.4 million viewers across NBC’s platforms. It’s the best ratings since … wait for it … 2019 when it was on the West Coast at Pebble Beach.

The USGA strongly believes that women also will see a ratings jump from playing at Pebble. “It wouldn’t surprise me if we were 50 per cent higher than Pine Needles,” USGA Chief Commercial Officer Jon Podany said.

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