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Women's PGA Cup: United States Leads by Three Over Canada After Opening Round
By Jesse Dodson, PGA
Published on
Joanna Coe, PGA.
Team United States wasted no time finding the top of the leaderboard after day one of the 2024 Women’s PGA Cup, the premier international competition among women PGA Professionals.
With a 5-under 208 team total, the two-time defending champions navigated the Meadows Course at Sunriver Resort well enough for a three-shot lead over Team Canada (205). Team Australia (219) is third.
PGA of America Golf Professional Joanna Coe, the PGA Director of Instruction at Merion Golf Club in Ardmore, Penn., led the U.S. Team and the field with a bogey-free, 3-under 68.
“I made a couple of poor swings, but then I managed well on the second shots,” said Coe, a Philadelphia PGA Section Member making her third appearance in the event. “I was smart on where I needed to be on the correct side of the hole.”
Joanna Coe went bogey-free during the first round of the Women's PGA Cup.
Coe made birdies on holes 2, 14 and 15 to put herself at the top of the leaderboard.
On the par-four 14th, Coe made one of her only mistakes of the day, causing her to navigate one of the many towering Douglas fir trees on the Meadows Course.
“I made my first bad swing of the day and flared it out right,” she said about her tee shot. “I drew a pretty good lie in the rough and the pin was back right. I meant to go a little left of the tree on my approach, but I ended up going over the tree onto the green. I hit a gap wedge to 8 feet and somehow made that one.”
She found another birdie on the par-four 15th hole and then finished with three-straight pars to lead the U.S.
Allie Knight and Stephanie Connelly Eiswerth are T-3 carding 1-under 70s to round out the scores for the U.S. Team.
Stephanie Connelly Eiswerth is playing in her second Women's PGA Cup.
“If we counted all five of our scores, we ended up 2-under; that’s a really strong performance by the team today,” said PGA of America President and U.S. Team Captain John Lindert, PGA Director of Golf at the Country Club of Lansing (Michigan). “We started off with a little bit cooler temperatures and the girls hung in there really well. We faced a couple falters down the stretch, but that’s a really strong performance on a really hard golf course. They are good players and they will continue to navigate the course well tomorrow.”
Sweden’s Playing Captain Alexandra Lennartsson, the Head PGA Professional at Torekovs Golf Club, sits a shot behind Coe in second place with a 2-under 69.
“You can make a lot of birdies out there if you’re on the ride side of the pin,” said Lennartsson, who made five birdies on the day. “Tomorrow, I’ll try to do the same thing, just stay in the same process and see what happens.”
Alexandra Lennartsson of Sweden shot 2-under in round 1.
Canada’s Christie Wong and Katy Rutherford join the group tied for third, recording 1-under 70s to lead their team.
Wong, a stalwart for Team Canada, book-ended her rounds with a slew of birdies, but encountered a stretch of four bogies in five holes to finish the front nine.
“I kind of lost my speed (on the greens) for a little bit,” said Wong. “On the back I told myself, ‘one shot at a time, you can hit the fairways, hit the greens,’ so that’s all I did for myself and I just gave myself more chances.”
Wong has faith in Team Canada going into the second round. “Our games are all pretty strong right now,” she said. “We had a few hiccups on the back nine today but I think we just continue playing our game and who knows what will happen at the end.”
The 2024 Women’s PGA Cup resumes Friday at Sunriver Resort with starting times beginning at 9 a.m PT.
For more additional information on the Women’s PGA Cup, click here.
