After one round at the Carlisle Arizona Women’s Golf Classic on the Epson Tour, major champion Sophia Popov leads by one stroke over Hailee Cooper, Melanie Green, Sophia Schubert and Liqi Zeng.
Popov felt confident in her ball striking all day, but has been the case with her for much of the season, wasn’t necessarily getting the putts to fall. That changed late in her first nine, where she birdied three of the last four holes before making the turn.
On the back, she continued to hit fairways and greens at a high clip, but added some flash with the putter, including on her second to last hole where she hit one from long range from off the green. In total, she shot a -7 64 to open up the lead.
“You know, the best days you have out here are often the ones you call boring. It wasn’t very exciting. I feel like I hit a lot of fairways, I hit a lot of greens, gave myself a lot of opportunities, and was able to finally drop some putts,” said Popov.
Popov has been playing on the LPGA Tour this year, but run into some issues with her status. She has played six times on tour, including the Chevron Championship, which she finished in the top 30. Popov won the 2021 AIG Women’s Open and is on the last year of getting full exemptions into the majors.
Popov does have a bit of a home turf advantage this week, with her home being a short drive from The Champions Course at TPC Scottsdale. That should be an added advantage as the week goes on, with extremely hot temperatures in the forecast for the weekend.
