PEBBLE BEACH, CA — In the identical week that Honolulu native Michelle Wie bid goodbye to the ladies’s recreation, one other Honolulu product named Allisen Corpuz stepped up at Pebble Seaside to win the U.S. Girls’s Open — the primary ever performed on the legendary course — for her first LPGA title.
The 25-year-old Corpuz was the one golfer within the 156-player area to card under-par rounds all 4 days of the match. And on Sunday, she put collectively a dominant final-round 69 to complete at 9 beneath — a full three photographs away from the sector — and declare the $2 million prize, the richest ever for an LPGA main champion.
After producing two bogeys on the entrance 9 and making the flip tied on the high with Japan’s Nasa Hataoka, Corpuz steadied the ship on the again 9, keeping off onerous fees from not simply Hataoka but additionally England’s Charley Hull, who shot a final-round-low 66. However as soon as Corpuz birdied the tenth gap to take a 1-stroke lead, she didn’t look again, including birdies on 14 and 15 to cement the outcome.
Hilary Lunke in 2003 at Pumpkin Ridge was the final American to get her first win on the U.S. Girls’s Open, that one in a three-way Monday playoff.
Very similar to her even-keeled demeanor that by no means wavered all week, Corpuz’s recreation was sound all through. Hardly ever did she ever stray from the fairways — she hit 43 of 56 for the week — and paired that with 2.77 strokes gained on approaches, second greatest within the area.
Her placing was additionally significantly stellar on Sunday, as she made 4 putts of 10 toes or extra, doubling what she had made all week from that vary.
“Placing has at all times been her bugaboo, however she’s improved a lot since faculty,” Justin Silverstein, her coach at USC, advised ESPN in a cellphone name Sunday. “She picked up 1.4 photographs on the greens over her profession at USC.”
Corpuz performed faculty golf at USC from 2016 to ’21 and led the Trojans ladies’s golf workforce with a 71.57 stroke common. She was named a first-team All-American and went on to signify america on the 2021 Curtis Cup. She turned professional in 2021, and although she had but to win a significant or an LPGA match, her efficiency had been trending upwards in 2023. On the yr’s first two majors, Corpuz completed tied for fifteenth and tied for fourth. So far as Silverstein was involved, it was solely a matter of time earlier than all of it got here collectively.
“She’s a generationally nice iron participant and ball-striker,” Silverstein stated. “This week has been plenty of what we noticed in faculty.”
Heading into the week, Silverstein stated he felt like Pebble Seaside introduced a super golf course and setup for Corpuz. The small greens would intensify her correct ball-striking, whereas the fairways had been simply broad sufficient to the place she may dwell inside the boundaries if she hit anyplace near her price of 85% of fairways this season.
The poa annua grass on the greens was additionally one which was acquainted to Corpuz, who performed on related grasses each rising up and in faculty. In actual fact, as Silverstein identified, Corpuz nonetheless does a lot of her taking part in and working towards at Southern California golf programs with similarities to Pebble.
“It is no shock at this golf course that she’s excelling,” Silverstein stated of his pondering at first of the week. “She’s constructed for main championships.”
Corpuz has additionally labored extensively with Invoice Nelson, a psychological efficiency coach for LPGA gamers. As Silverstein identified, Nelson and Corpuz have frolicked engaged on not simply visualization, but additionally respiratory strategies and even controlling her stroll from shot to shot in order that she stays calm and composed all through.
“She has an amazing demeanor on the golf course, she has a good way of wanting chill,” Silverstein stated. “However inside she’s fairly fiery. She’s robust as s—.”
As Corpuz stepped as much as the ultimate gap on Sunday, the outcome now not in query, her regular composure and stroll remained. However after she hit her final fairway of the week with one other correct drive, she started strolling down the 18th fairway towards the rousing cheers and trophy that awaited her and allowed herself to smile.
Info from The Related Press was included on this report.
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