Mariel Galdiano, a 28-year-old from Hawaii who played her college golf at UCLA, leads the Standard Portland Classic as the morning wave is starting to finish up.
Galdiano actually started a bit suspect, with a bogey on the opening par four before immediately making up for it with a two on the par 3 second hole.
From there, it was a near spotless round. Galdiano had birdies on holes five, six and seven to go out in -3. On the back, she made birdies on 10, 12 and 14 before dropping her second stroke of the day. She immediately made up for it though with birdies on 16 and 17 to finish up with a -7 65.
While Galdiano has played in just three previous LPGA Tour events this season, and was on the Epson Tour last week, she says that she is gaining a lot of confidence:
“I mean, it’s a tough grind. Last year was my rookie year and I didn’t play as well as I wanted to, but I’m feeling a lot more confident in myself and in my game.” said Galdiano. “So I know I can play out here. It’s just a matter of when, not if.”
Galdiano said she is a great ball striker, and that showed with 14 fairways hit on Thursday, but it was really all parts of her game clicking as she had just 22 putts for the round.
This win would go a long way for Galdiano to gaining more status on the Tour. She has a tough road ahead of her, with major champion Grace Kim wrapping up the first round just one stroke back of the lead.
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