By: Max Bechtoldt
Rookie Hira Naveed, in just her second tournament as an LPGA Tour member, scored better than anyone in the field on Saturday and Sunday to finish solo second in Arizona.
Seville Country Club played like a different course seemingly every day of the inaugural Ford Championship. Lydia Ko wrote on Instagram that they “just needed snow to complete all four seasons.” At times on Sunday, it felt like that was a possibility.
While many of the players took advantage of the very classic Arizona Spring days of Thursday and Friday, leading to a tie for the lowest cut line in LPGA Tour history, Naveed took the road less traveled.
After making the cut right on the number at -5, Naveed shot -13 on the final 36 holes, and for a while felt like she was in serious contention to win. Despite Saturday having wind gusts around 40 MPH, and Sunday seeing a cold downpour throughout much of the round, Naveed grinded out two fantastic scores.
Naveed only had two bogeys on the weekend (and only four for the entire tournament.) While every player seemingly was missing greens left and right on Saturday, Naveed had her best approach performance of the week, with 15 GIRs. The last 36 holes only took 52 putts to complete.
The 26-year-old Naveed played at Pepperdine before heading over to the Epson Tour for four years. She is the first Pakastani-Australian player in the LPGA Tour’s history. With the strong finish she jumped over 500 spots in the Rolex Rankings to No. 106.
