SUPERSTITION MOUNTAIN, Ariz. — The LPGA’s first full-field event of 2023 has produced the first albatross on the tour in three years.
In the second round of the LPGA Drive On Championship, Yuka Saso, who played the back nine first, was 217 yards out after her tee shot on the par-5 second hole.
Using a 19-degee hybrid, Saso, the 2021 U.S. Open champ, holed out for an albatross.
“We didn’t really know where it landed,” she said. “So we were just walking to the green and everyone started clapping. But my ball wasn’t on the green so I was like, ‘Why are they clapping? Is it over? Why is everyone clapping if it’s not on the green?’ Then Sei Young [Kim] was walking around also and she looked down and she said it’s in, the ball was in, so that’s how I found out,” Saso said, noting that this was her first albatross.
It’s also the first one on the LPGA since Lyndsey Weaver-Wright recorded one in 2020.
Saso shot a 66 on Friday to get to 8 under and a tie for 12th when she signed her scorecard.
“We all now how hard it is to get one,” she said. “They say you’re lucky if you ever get one in your golf career. I guess I was very lucky to have it.”
