Erica Blasberg, 19, of Corona, Calif., is among the early leaders with a 1-under-par 70. Blasberg, the NCAA Freshman of the Year, has played in five consecutive U.S. Women’s Amateurs – in 1999 and 2002 she made it to the third round.
Happy to be done with your round?
It’s a relief. It’s been very hard out there today. The hardest part probably was with that two-hour delay, just sitting around to play two holes. They blew the horn and I made my putt and my group hadn’t finished out yet, so I’ve been sitting around for two hours just to sign my scorecard.
Talk about your round today
I got off to a good front nine. I was making putts, which isn’t always a given for me. It doesn’t usually happen too much. I had a double bogey on the eighth hole, and that hurt my score a little bit. I was consistent on the back nine – all pars.
How do the delays affect you?
It’s hard on rhythm. You get in a rhythm out there, and I was hitting the ball pretty good, and then I come out on the last two holes and I’m just so tight and nothing was really working, so I got out of there with a couple pars, thankfully. It’s got to be tough on some of the girls out there right now, trying to get their swing back.
I think I got lucky with my tee time, being able to get through most of the storm.
Are you playing a light schedule this summer?
I usually have more tournaments, but they were junior tournaments before. This year is my first amateur season and there really aren’t that many. The Trans was just a couple days ago and it was too hectic – I wanted to get ready for this. I usually play a lot.
What do you think of the course?
It’s real demanding with the irons. The rough is really hard to get out of. It’s not too long, but it’s long enough. It suits my game pretty well.