American Alison Lee continues to play well.
After narrowly missing the playoff at last week’s Seri Pak Fir Hills Championship, Lee is back in the mix at the Ford Championship in Arizona.
She signed for a 6-under 66 on Thursday, which included zero bogies.
“My game feels really good. I feel like it’s in a really good place,” Lee said after the round.
“Playing golf today on this golf course felt like night and day compared to last week. No wind, greens are pretty soft. You can play aggressively out here and go for pins.”
Blustery weather produced brutal conditions last week in Southern California. But the sun continues to shine in the desert, where the winds have barely reached 10 miles per hour.
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That helped produce low scores during Thursday’s opening round, as Pajaree Anannarukarn leads at 9-under.
As such, Lee sits three strokes back, but she feels she could have ended her round much closer to the top of the leaderboard.
“Obviously, you always feel like you could do a little better,” Lee added.
“I definitely missed a few good birdie opportunities. I think I missed one three-footer for birdie, but still so much golf left. Anything can happen. I’m really happy where I stand right now going into the next three days.”
Lee hit 17-of-18 greens in regulation and found 13-of-14 fairways. But her putter let her down somewhat, as she needed 30 putts to get around Seville Golf and Country Club.
Still, Lee knows that if she continues to put herself in good positions on the course, good scores will follow.
“I feel really, really good about where my game is at, especially how I played last week,” Lee said.
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“Shooting a low number today, I feel like for the next three days, it’s definitely going to be a pretty low score that’s going to come out on top on Sunday.”
Before finishing a stroke behind Nelly Korda and Ryann O’Toole last week, Lee’s only other start this season came in Singapore at the end of February.
It did not go well for her. She tied for 51st and finished at 5-over at the HSBC Women’s. Two rounds of 79 and 77 during the first and third rounds plagued her.
But she finished the 2023 season with three straight runner-up finishes. Over the past year, she has played well overall, and continues to do so in Arizona.
“Getting that little bit of a taste of being in contention and close to winning at the end of last season, and especially last week, too, I think that’s really motivated me to try and win out here,” Lee said.
“I want to win at least once so badly… I think realistically, if I won once, it would provide a lot of relief and a lot of weight lifted off my shoulders. At the same time, we move on to the next week so quickly. So, I’m going to try and give myself as many opportunities and chances as I can in contention and be on the leaderboard. I feel really good about my game right now.”
Lee has never won on the LPGA Tour and has twice lost in a playoff during her career. But she has two victories on the Ladies European Tour, with her last coming in the fall of 2023 in Saudi Arabia.
If she keeps putting herself in position like she has, it is only a matter of when—not if—she will break through on the LPGA. Surely, Lee will find herself in the winner’s circle sooner rather than later. She is too talented of a player not to.
Jack Milko is a golf staff writer for SB Nation’s Playing Through. Be sure to check out @_PlayingThrough for more golf coverage. You can follow him on Twitter @jack_milko as well.