Hilo’s Britney Yada positioned herself to make the cut for the second time on the LPGA Tour, shooting a 1-under 70 on Friday at the NW Arkansas Championship.
Yada, a former three-time BIIF champion at Waiakea, played in humid and overcast conditions during the morning at Pinnacle Country Club in Rogers, avoiding a 46-minute weather delay and gusty conditions during the afternoon.
The field will be cut after Saturday’s second round in the 54-hole event, and Yada will try to duplicate her consistency on the back nine, which left her tied for 53rd in the field of 144. The projected cutline was 1-under.
Fellow LPGA Tour rookie Sung Hyun Park nearly matched the course record with an 8-under 63.
Playing an LPGA event for the fifth week in a row, the 25-year-old Yada, began with consecutive bogeys, but birdies on Nos. 4 and 6 helped her make the turn at 1-over. Starting with No. 11, she birdied three of five holes, two of them par 3s, and her only blemish on the back nine was a bogey on the par-5 18th.
Yada’s is scheduled to tee off on the back nine in the afternoon in the second round along with Brittany Altomare (68) and Caroline Hedwall (71).
Michelle Wie shot a 68, leaving her five strokes behind Park, who finished with nine birdies and needed only 24 putts to take a two-shot lead over Mel Reid, Ally McDonald and So Yeon Ryu.
Local favorite Stacy Lewis and 56-year-old Juli Inkster were at 66 along with Felicity Johnson, Moriya Jutanugarn, and Katherine Kirk. Defending champion and second-ranked Lydia Ko opened with a 70
The 34-year-old Park won seven times and was the top earner last year on the Korean LPGA tour, but she also played in seven LPGA Tour events with an eye on making the move to the U.S. She has finished in the top 10 four times this year, nine times in her 19 total LPGA Tour appearances.
She entered the tournament fourth in the LPGA Tour in driving distance, and she lived up to that Friday, booming 290-yard drives on the 7,001-yard course.
The Associated Press contributed to this report
