Trouble, double trouble, and lip-outs
January 10, 2025
The Friday first round of the 2024 ShopRite LPGA Classic in early June took place under ideal conditions. Light winds made the course vulnerable, exemplified by Arpichaya Yubol’s 10-under performance. Even so, Yubol was only 2 strokes ahead of her competitors.
The three women teeing off first at 7:30 a.m. Saturday knew they needed to go low.
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Frenchwoman Agatha Laisne plays the Epson Tour and stood at par. Riuxin Liu, an LPGA member from China, also began at even par. Isi Gabsa of Germany finished 73d at the U.S. Women’s Open the week before and started her second round at 2-under par.
The wind picked up noticeably only two holes into their round. At that point the group knew conditions would be very different.
Laisne was the first to falter. A birdie putt from 30 feet went 38 feet. She missed a par putt from 2 feet. Liu made a two-putt birdie on 3 but had a nasty lip-out bogey on the fourth.
The winds increased to 15 mph with some serious gusts to increase their troubles.
Liu drove into deep fescue on the short fifth hole and immediately hit a provisional to the fairway about 70 yards out. Her playing partners joined tournament volunteers and others in a fruitless search for her first drive. Liu finished the hole with a double bogey.
Meanwhile, Gabsa hit her best wedge of the day to 3 feet below the hole. She punched the air and grinned broadly.
Liu made an equally great bounce-back birdie on the 6th. Her approach finished in tap-in range.
Laisne’s tee shot on the 8th bounced left into a marshy area. Once again, the volunteers searched without success as the golfers approached. Gabsa found a ball and Laisne identified it as hers, but the lie was completely unplayable.
Laisne found a good spot out of the marsh for her drop, about halfway between the adjacent fifth tee and fourth green and on a direct line to the hole about 100 yards out. Her ball landed on the 8th green but rolled off the back, leading to a double bogey.
The strong gusts continued, making the normally easy par-5 ninth much longer than normal. They did well to make pars.
Liu suffered another lip-out bogey on the par-3 11th from 4 feet, while Gabsa earned applause for a blast from the left green-side bunker and a saving par putt. However, her birdie putt on 12 spun out with a vengeance.
The wind on the uphill 13th blew directly into the players’ faces. They managed to bring their approach shots 20 to 30 feet from the hole, making pars good scores.
The downwind 14th also made birdies a challenge. None could bring their approaches close to the hole. Liu missed a short putt for yet another bogey.
The wind continued to bedevil the group. Even with fine tee shots on the uphill 15th, they made short putts for par instead of tournament-saving birdies.
In-your-face winds held up Laisne’s drive on the 16th and blew her ball into fescue bordering the right fairway bunker. She made a good recovery shot from there to 100 yards. Unfortunately, her third shot rolled into the back left fringe past the green, 45 feet from the hole.
Laisne made her stroke and immediately made the frantic palm-down hand gesture that told every observer she putted way too hard. It rolled by the hole, down a slope, and 25 feet past. Laisne took two more putts for another double bogey, now 5-over par and with no chance to make the cut.
Liu faced the same prospect at plus-3, as shown on the electronic scoreboard next to the 17th hole.
The group played the last hole well, all things considered. Laisne made a 7-footer for par that was the longest putt she made all day. Liu chipped from the left side to 8 feet for a two-putt par. Gabsa’s left green-side bunker shot stopped a foot away for an easy birdie, her second of the day along with her 16 pars. She made the eventual 3-under cut line with a stroke to spare.
In post-round comments Gabsa said, “What makes this course tough is the wind. I hoped for a little less wind with the early tee time, but you just have to take what you get.”
She also suggested adjusting from the Women’s Open greens the week before may have affected play. “It was just hard. When reading putts you have to get the right speed. It was quite the difference from the U.S. Open last week, where you had five-footers breaking two feet left to right. And now you have maybe the edge or inside the hole and trying to convince yourself that it’s only the edge. It’s a little hard.”
Gabsa finished the 2024 ShopRite tied for 52d and made $5,693. However, she lost her LPGA status and missed the fall Q-School Group of 25 by a single stroke. She can play the Epson Tour in 2025 and perhaps a few LPGA events.