The Indiana PGA Women’s Open began today at the Birck Boilermaker Golf Complex’s Ackerman-Allen Course in West Lafayette, IN. After one round, Woodland Country Club’s Brittany Kelly leads by one shot over Indiana University’s Alexis Miestowski.
A mindset that Kelly channeled from her days as a junior golfer was the focal point of her first round.
“I came into today with one thing in mind and that was I was going to play like I used to when I was a junior golfer,” Kelly said. “The word was fearless. I was going to play fearless today. I went after par 5’s, I didn’t back down off of driver on any holes. I just played like I used to when I was young and didn’t have any worry.”
The mindset turned into execution that began on the first hole with a birdie and manifested itself throughout the day. Kelly hit all nine greens on the front nine and made the turn at 3-under-par, a score that could have been several shots better if she holed a few more putts.
“The greens are in great shape but I never got comfortable with my line today and speed was a little bit of an issue,” Kelly said. “I was leaving things short and not trusting it at times. I knew there were birdies and I knew when they needed to be made. I was patient enough with it and as soon as I made those birdies I’ll take my pars on all the other holes I need to.”
Kelly’s lone bogey of the day came at the par 4, 11th but she bounced back on the 15th with a chip in birdie after a rare missed green.
Alexis Miestowski sits in solo second after the first round carding a 3-under-par, 69. Miestowski birdied three of her first five holes going off the 10th tee at Ackerman-Allen and made the turn at 3-under. A lone birdie paired with eight pars on her second nine resulted in a 69.
Julia Potter-Bobb carded the only other under par score of the day with a 2-under-par, 70. Potter-Bobb birdied four of her first six holes carding a front nine 32. Potter-Bobb struggled on the back nine with bogeys at 12, 13 and 15 before finishing her round with a birdie on 18.
Last year’s champion, Lauren Tibbets carded a 74 and the IWGA Match Play champion, Kayla Benge, sits in fourth after a first round 72.
Kelly, Miestowski, and Potter-Bobb will be in the final group for the final round and are only separated by two shots.
For full results after the first round of the Indiana PGA Women’s Open, click here: https://iga.bluegolf.com/bluegolf/iga19/event/iga1957/index.htm
