NORTON, Mass. — Marina Alex found the TPC Boston much more to her liking, playing bogey-free for a 4-under 68 to give her a one-shot lead Thursday in the inaugural FM Championship.
Former U.S. Women’s Open champion Allisen Corpuz and Lauren Coughlin, a two-time winner on the LPGA this year, were part of the large group at 69. Both are on the U.S. team for the Solheim Cup in two weeks, and this is their final competition before the event.
Two captain’s picks for the Americans, Lexi Thompson and Sarah Schmelzel, along with Massachusetts native Megan Khang, were at 70.
The TPC Boston hosted a PGA Tour event for nearly two decades, and it took some adjustments with the firm greens and run-off areas.
For Alex, it was a happy adjustment compared with her last two weeks in Scotland. She played the Women’s Scottish Open at Dundonald Links and then the Women’s British Open at St. Andrews and had to cope with a cold wind at both stops.
St. Andrews was particularly brutal, and Alex was among those caught on the worst side of the draw. She shot 80 in the opening round, leaving her little chance of making the cut.
“It was tough for a lot of us on some of those waves,” Alex said. “I just felt like I wasn’t going to play a good round of golf again, if I’m being honest. It was really good to see some good golf today. It was a break to not play in 30 mph winds. Just to be able to see yourself hit a shot and go where you’re intending is nice.”
Alex said she was happy to “toss the two weeks in Scotland aside.” The 34-year-old from New Jersey is a two-time winner on the LPGA Tour, hoisting trophies in 2018 and 2022. She has slipped to No. 121 in the world rankings and has missed four cuts in her past six starts.
“There has been some good golf this year,” she said. “It’s been coming and going, but I’m happy to see a 68 today. I’m hoping that I can kept present for the next three rounds.”
It was a tidy 68, for sure. She made birdies on two of the par 5s, No. 7 on the front and No. 12 on the back, and picked up birdies on a par-3 on each side. One of them was the 11th to an elevated the green, the other to the water-framed 16th.
Alex had to scramble for a par a few times on the back nine. The tougher task was playing in a twosome when Jenny Shin withdrew. that meant a lot of standing around.
“Our pace was a little off today because of us being behind a threesome, so I felt like it was hard at the end to get into a good rhythm,” Alex said. “I felt like mentally that was the most challenging part of finishing up. Just staying in it. A lot of waits between shots. You get tired. It’s late.”
Coughlin also was at 4 under until a bogey on the par-5 18th hole, with the third shot over a creek and severe slopes off some of the edges of the green.
“Disappointing bogey there at the last, but overall played really well,” Coughlin said. “Made a lot of really good putts on the front nine. Greens were getting really firm and some of them aren’t very deep, and so was kind of glad I got some on the front nine down and done in the beginning of the day.”
That wasn’t about to spoil her mood. She has won twice this year, the second clinching her spot on her first Solheim Cup team. The matches against Europe are Sept. 13-15 in Virginia, where she went to college.
“I remember after Canada I was like, ‘I want to do it again,’ so I was just thinking, ‘Keep doing what I’m doing, don’t change anything,'” Coughlin said. “That’s kind of been my whole thing.”
Not all of the Americans in the Solheim Cup got off to great starts. Rose Zhang had only one birdie and Jennifer Kupcho had two bogeys on par 5s. Both shot 75.
Europe has five players in the field, none of whom were at par or better.
Information from Reuters and The Associated Press was used in this story.