A nine iron on hole nine: Sagstrom's day one success
By Kaylee Smith
TARZANA, Calif. – Under some gray clouds and a cool April wind, the first round of the JM Eagle LA Championship was off to a chilly start. Amidst the cold weather, a player in a pink jacket and bucket hat shined on the course and heated things up in round one.
Madelene Sagstrom played a bogey-free round with five birdies, shooting seven under par. The two other players in her group were Nelly Korda, with a Rolex ranking of #1 coming into the tournament, and Hannah Green, the two-time defending champion of the JM Eagle LA Championship. With some tough competition to play 18 holes with, Sagstrom enjoyed every moment of it.
“I mean, playing with such good players as them it's really nice. I saw the pairing and I was like, yes, let's go. It creates momentum. Good players and good play encourages everyone else to play good, too. It's not very often you see a whole group play well, so it was a lot of fun,” describes Sagstrom in her press conference after her round.
Sagstrom further discussed her time out on the course. She made it to Tarzana on Monday night, and proceeded to play nine holes on Tuesday. As a final preparation for her round, she walked and played the pro-am yesterday, figuring out the course and developing her golf strategy.
“It really demands the shots. I wasn't crazy accurate off the tee today, but I hit some really good iron shots. You have to be specific where you're trying to land the ball… I am still rolling my putter really well from the momentum from the last few weeks, so that helped me a lot. But if you're not in the right spots here you can do some damage.”
On the last hole of the round, Sagstrom had the ultimate iron shot. Teeing up on hole nine, Sagstrom lined up her shot with her nine-iron, and hit a hole-in-one; her first one in a tournament.
“It was my first ace in a tournament ever. I was like I never actually get to write one on the scorecard.”
With an excited celebration display of throwing her hands up in the hole nine tee box, her two group mates were equally as joyful.
“I was the first one to give her a high five...It's always super exciting to get to do that also on the last hole,” said Korda.
Sagstrom is currently tied with four others for fourth place, just two strokes behind Ashleigh Buhai and Yan Liu who lead the field, both with nine under par.
