Hilo’s Britney Yada has work to do to make her first cut on the LPGA Tour, though she breathed life into her round with a solid 12-hole finish at the ShopRite Classic. ADVERTISING Hilo’s Britney Yada has work to do
Hilo’s Britney Yada has work to do to make her first cut on the LPGA Tour, though she breathed life into her round with a solid 12-hole finish at the ShopRite Classic.
The next step for Yada is to breathe easy through a full 18.
Fighting nerves and an afternoon gust in Galloway Township, N.J., Yada steadied herself on the back nine Friday for a first-round 5-over 76 in the LPGA rookie’s third top-pro event this season.
“I’m still trying to get comfortable out here on the LPGA,” she said. “I get pretty nervous on the first tee, and it takes me a while to get settled in.”
Yada, a 2009 Waiakea graduate, appeared to find her composure after a bogey on No. 8 dropped to her 5-over. She balanced two birdies with two bogeys the rest of the way and was tied for 124th in the 142-player field at the 54-hole event at Stockton Seaview near Atlantic City. Yada called the playing conditions difficult.
Anna Nordqvist fired a 64 and led a group of four golfers – Moriya Jutanugarn, Jeong Eun Lee, Jenny Shin and Jennifer Song – by a stroke. Honolulu’s Michelle Wie was at 71.
The projected cutline after Saturday’s second round was 1-over.
Yada’s first birdie came on the par-3 No. 7, helping her recover from a pair of double-bogeys on par-4 holes.
“I’m taking it as a positive that I was able to play the final 12 holes at even-par,” she said.
Last week, Yada a shot a 78 and 75 at the LPGA Volvik Championship to finish at 9-0ver in Michigan. Her first LPGA round this year, a 73 at the LOTTE Championship in April at Oahu’s Ko Olina Golf Club in Kapolei, remains her best to date.
In between, Yada claimed a victory on the Cactus Tour, pocketing $2,500, and she’s earned two paydays on the Symetra Tour so far this season.
But the LPGA is where Yada aspires to be. A former three-time BIIF champion who went on to capture a Big Sky title at Portland State, she earned an alternate card at Q-school in December.
“I know I can compete here,” Yada said, “if I can figure out how to handle the nerves and not let it get away from me.”
