HURRICANE — Kaleigh Telfer and Alena Sharp stacked up birdies during Thursday’s opening round of the Copper Rock Championship, both signing 8-under 64s to hold a one-shot lead over Daniel Iacobelli.
First-round leader Kaleigh Telfer lines up a putt Thursday during the Copper Rock Golf Championship in Hurricane, Utah, May 16, 2024 | Photo by Fred Watson, Epson LPGA Tour, St. George News
The pair combined for 17 birdies and only one bogey, with both players coming from the morning wave. The wind started to pick up as the day went on, making for challenging afternoon conditions, but Jessica Porvasnik was still able to post 6-under 66 to have the best round of the afternoon.
Play continues Friday-Saturday at Copper Rock Golf Course with the cut coming after 36 holes. The final round is scheduled for Saturday in the $250,000 event, with $37,500 going to the winner.
Competing on the 6,552-yard, par-72 course are the top women golfers on the LPGA Epson Tour. Click here for Friday’s pairings.
According to a news release, Telfer is making her first appearance at the Copper Rock Championship and was only one shot from tying the course record during her debut.
The 8-under round was bogey-free for the 25-year-old, matching the lowest round of her Epson Tour career.
The round for Telfer was consistent, with the South African native’s longest stretch without a birdie on the card being three holes. Telfer will have to battle through the much more difficult afternoon conditions in her second round, which began at 12:31 p.m. on the 10th tee, but she is confident in her game and feels like it has started to come together at the end of the West Coast swing.
“I think just the past couple of weeks, everything started to fall into place. And then today, it just all fell into place,” Telfer said in a news release. “The putter was hot. I made a couple of good par saves when I needed to and then hit my irons really close, which was nice to have a couple of six-footers for birdie and just made them all. Nine was my last hole, with the whole grandstand full behind the green. It just feels like a really important, which is nice.”
First-round co-leader Alena Sharp prepares to drive a tee shot Thursday during the Copper Rock Golf Championship in Hurricane, Utah, May 16, 2024 | Photo by Fred Watson, Epson LPGA Tour, St. George News
Sharp opened her tournament the same way she closed out her 2023 event, carding an 8-under 64. The last three rounds for Sharp at the Copper Rock Championship have her at 23-under par, with only one bogey in that stretch.
The Canadian will be in search of her third career Epson Tour victory when she tees it up on Moving Day, her round beginning at 1:04 p.m. on the 10th hole. Like Telfer, Sharp feels like her game is rounding into form at the right time and when her putter is hot, she is capable of posting consistent low rounds like she has for so long in her career.
“I’ve been playing well, but I just putted terribly last week, so I worked on it this week. I played well here last year, and I think I just see the breaks better,” said Sharp of her putting. “It’s so much easier to make putts when you are sure of your read. I started off really well and just kept going, so kind of continuing on from last year.
Iacobelli, who sits third after a bogey-free 7-under 65, said the atmosphere of the tournament is a testament to all involved with staging the event.
“The best part of all of this is the amount of volunteers and every single one of them is happy,” she said. “Every single one is cheering for you. I mean, we had claps all day. It was it was fun. It was enjoyable. I had a good group and then all these people out here to watch us. I mean, it doesn’t get better.”
Click here for the tournament leaderboard and for more information about the Copper Rock Championship.
Free clinic Saturday
Saturday at 1 p.m., youth are invited to participate in a free junior clinic at the driving range. The instructor will be Katie Ford, a four-time state team champion and a three-time state individual champion at Desert Hills High School, who played golf for Utah Tech University. Click here to register.