Chandni Canan BauerCatrin Nilsmark turned a soggy Thursday into something rather more agreeable, shooting a four-under 67 to lead the LPGA Legends Championship at Harrison Lakes Country Club.
The 58-year-old Swede did it without much affection for the driver, leaning instead on sharp iron play and a five-wood strategy that looked increasingly sensible as the ground softened.
Nilsmark finds another gear after the turn
The round began neatly enough with a birdie at the first, then became less cooperative. Bogeys at the fifth and eighth left Nilsmark one over through the front nine and in need of a change in temperature.
She supplied it herself.
A birdie at the par-4 10th started a back-nine burst of five birdies. She also picked up shots at both par fives, the 11th and 18th, and both par threes, the 13th and 17th. The result was a five-under 31 coming home and the outright first-round lead.
“I was hitting my irons really well, and I’m not too friendly with my driver at the moment, so I was hitting a lot of five woods off the tees, which the past couple of days was a good strategy,” said Nilsmark. “Today, with the course being super wet, I actually had some long second shots in. But, you know, hitting my irons well, then it worked out really well anyways.”
A familiar Solheim Cup figure, still very much competitive
Nilsmark has won on the LPGA Tour, Ladies European Tour and Swedish Golf Tour. She also played on five European Solheim Cup teams between 1992 and 2000 before captaining Europe in 2003 and 2005.
In 2003, aged 36 years and 13 days, she became Europe’s youngest Solheim Cup captain and led the side to victory while on crutches after suffering a ruptured disk in her back. Her best LPGA Legends Championship finish is a tie for eighth in 2022 at Salina Country Club.
The iron form, apparently, has not arrived by accident.
“Yeah, and I’ve been hitting them; I’ve only been in Sweden practicing, but I’ve been hitting them really well and actually I was worried that I was going to run out of my good form too early, you know, peak too early. My daughter said, Mama, no, I think you’re peaking too early and I said, no please.”
McBride leads the chase as conditions stay awkward
Maria McBride is one shot back after a three-under 68, close enough to make the second round distinctly interesting. Her assessment of Harrison Lakes was less about brute difficulty than the importance of finding the correct sections of the greens.
“Yeah, so we played 18 holes on Tuesday, and then obviously only 3 holes yesterday in the Pro-Am. So I’ve seen the whole course, which is great and I’m happy we did.
The greens are tricky and you just have to make sure that you’re on the right spot on the greens, because otherwise you’re kind of fighting to get a good two putt. I had a couple of putts, like 3-4 footers for par after a little longer first putt, so that’s important as well to make sure that you’re just on the right spots, but I mean the course overall I’m surprised how dry it is.
Yeah, I think preferred lie was good that we had today. Hopefully it’s not car path tomorrow because it slows down play a little bit or whatever, but overall I’m happy and the course is looking great. So hopefully, you know, no more rain for the next two days and it should be really good.”
Stanford and Morgan remain close
Angela Stanford and Becky Morgan share third after rounds of 69. Both have useful history in this event: Stanford won in 2023 and 2024, while Morgan finished runner-up to Trish Johnson in 2021.
Stanford’s opening round was shaped by incomplete reconnaissance after weather disrupted the build-up.
“Well, I kind of played defensive because we hadn’t seen the last five holes we got called off in the practice round and then we never played the Pro-Am so I never saw the last 5 holes and I just decided that today I had to be extremely defensive and kind of make sure I kept things in front of me and now tomorrow we have a better idea I think this is one of those courses that the more you play it the better you can play it because there’s so many little things you got to learn about it, but It’s a really cool golf course, it really is. I mean, so I’ve enjoyed playing it, it’s just there’s so many little things that you need to learn.”
Kerr stays in touch as Johnson supplies the day’s ace
Defending champion Cristie Kerr opened with a one-under 71 and sits tied eighth, still within range with two rounds to play. Johnson, a two-time champion, produced Thursday’s cleanest piece of theatre with a hole-in-one at the second from 100 yards.
With more unsettled weather hanging around the LPGA Legends Championship, Harrison Lakes is unlikely to become simpler overnight. Nilsmark, though, has already found a useful formula: keep the driver mostly out of the conversation, trust the irons and make the back nine pay.
For a player who once captained Europe on crutches, finding another route around a problem is hardly new territory.
