Hilo’s Britney Yada has work to do to make her first cut on the LPGA Tour, though she breathed life into her round with a solid 12-hole finish at the ShopRite Classic.
The next step for Yada is to breathe easy through a full 18.
Fighting nerves and an afternoon gust in Galloway Township, N.J., Yada steadied herself on the back nine Friday for a first-round 5-over 76 in the LPGA rookie’s third top-pro event this season.
“I’m still trying to get comfortable out here on the LPGA,” she said. “I get pretty nervous on the first tee, and it takes me a while to get settled in.”
Yada, a 2009 Waiakea graduate, appeared to find her composure after a bogey on No. 8 dropped to her 5-over. She balanced two birdies with two bogeys the rest of the way and was tied for 124th in the 142-player field at the 54-hole event at Stockton Seaview near Atlantic City. Yada called the playing conditions difficult.
Anna Nordqvist fired a 64 and led a group of four golfers – Moriya Jutanugarn, Jeong Eun Lee, Jenny Shin and Jennifer Song – by a stroke. Honolulu’s Michelle Wie was at 71.
The projected cutline after Saturday’s second round was 1-over.
Yada’s first birdie came on the par-3 No. 7, helping her recover from a pair of double-bogeys on par-4 holes.
“I’m taking it as a positive that I was able to play the final 12 holes at even-par,” she said.
Last week, Yada a shot a 78 and 75 at the LPGA Volvik Championship to finish at 9-0ver in Michigan. Her first LPGA round this year, a 73 at the LOTTE Championship in April at Oahu’s Ko Olina Golf Club in Kapolei, remains her best to date.
In between, Yada claimed a victory on the Cactus Tour, pocketing $2,500, and she’s earned two paydays on the Symetra Tour so far this season.
But the LPGA is where Yada aspires to be. A former three-time BIIF champion who went on to capture a Big Sky title at Portland State, she earned an alternate card at Q-school in December.
“I know I can compete here,” Yada said, “if I can figure out how to handle the nerves and not let it get away from me.”
