LA Open: Hong Kong’s Tiffany Chan stays on course for first top-10 finish on LPGA Tour after ‘conservative’ second round
- The 27-year-old sticks to her new game plan of playing safe in the early rounds, making the cut and try to attack over the last two days
- Chan is tied for sixth at the halfway stage at seven-under 135 as she makes the cut for the third straight tournament
Hong Kong’s Tiffany Chan Tsz-ching stubbornly adhered to her new game-plan of playing conservative in the early rounds as she stayed on course for a first-ever top-10 finish on the LPGA Tour.
The 27-year-old followed up her opening round of six-under-par 65 with a one-under 7o at her “home” Wilshire Country Club to lie joint sixth in the Hugel Air Premia LA Open.
She is on seven-under-par 135 for the tournament, six strokes behind halfway leader Jessica Korda, who shot 65 for a total of 129. South Korea’s Ko Jin-young is three strokes behind in second place after her 65 with compatriot Kim Sei-young in third (133) and Canada’s Brooke Henderson tied for fourth on 134 with American Angela Stanford.
Chan shares sixth place with South Korea’s Ryu So-yeon and Australia’s Hannah Green.
“Conservative for the first two days is what the guys taught me to do,” said Chan, referring to chats she has had with coaches and fellow pros. “Sometimes golf is just weird. When you go too aggressive it might turn the other way around. This morning I told my caddie, ‘I’m saying yesterday’s round is erased’.
“Today we keep the same game plan. Doesn’t matter we shoot 80 or 70 or 60 today, it’s still one shot at a time. This is what I been trying to learn in the past couple years and I think it’s slowly kicking in and it’s helping.”
Chan picked up birdies on holes five, nine, 10 and 13 and bogeyed six, seven and 11 on a course she is intimately familiar with from her college days. She was pleased with her birds on five and nine, where the approach shots are crucial, as well as the 10th, on which she hit a short iron for a tap-in.
She has now made the cut for the third straight tournament, having finished T64 and T66 in her past two events. Her best performance since qualifying for the LPGA Tour in 2018 was joint-13th at the 2019 Walmart NW Arkansas Championship, making 11 of 21 cuts that season. In 2020, Chan made four cuts in 10 events with a highest finish of T25 at the Volunteers of America Classic.
“I think today is definitely playing a little tougher than yesterday, a little colder for me and a little more wind,” said Chan in a post-round interview. “Pin position is a little tougher. I actually started with birdie, which is a pretty good start, and then bogeyed 11 again like yesterday. But I just keep the game plan going.
“I didn’t really try to go for it, try to chase the leader. As I said, I’m trying to play round one and two more steady and conservatively and make the cut, and then I can go more aggressive in the weekend.
“So overall I think I did really good. My goal is to play fairways and middle of the green and I made it.”
