Malaysian No 1 Kelly Tan is pumped about her debut appearance in this week’s CME Group Tour Championship, the US$3 million season-ender of the LPGA Tour which starts on Thursday (December 17) at Tiburon Golf Club in Naples, Florida,
“I’m looking forward to finishing the season strong. Playing here at the CME Ground Tour Championship has always been a goal of mine and I’m excited to get the week started and enjoy the tournament,” said the 27-year-old.
Kelly added that she has already shrugged off the memories of her disappointing outing at last week’s US Women’s Open at Champions Golf Club in Houston, where she missed the cut in her 16th Major start.
“Last week was just a bad week and I’m ready to move on. My ball-striking has been great all year and last week I felt that the fairways were cut a little too tight and it was wet. So that makes it difficult when you mis-hit a little bit,” said Kelly, who hails from Batu Pahat, Johor.
“I have my coach (Gary Gilchrist) with me this week and we’re fine-tuning a little here and there. I feel ready and confident again for the week.”
And Kelly is not letting her optimism get dampened by the fact that the Greg Norman-designed Gold Course of Tiburon Golf Club is unfamiliar territory.
“I have never played here before this week, so I played 18 on Monday, 9 on Tuesday and 9 on Wednesday. I felt getting two looks at the course will help me familiarise myself with it. It is pretty straightforward and in front of you. The wind can be challenging if it starts blowing from the northwest, so I’ll keep an eye on that.
“The greens are a lot smaller compared to Champions Golf Club, so hitting it to the middle of the greens will get me a few good looks at birdies,” noted Kelly, who is currently in 37th position on the LPGA Tour’s season-long Race To CME Globe standings.
Kelly tees off in tomorrow’s first round of the CME Group Tour Championship at 8.49am (9.49pm Malaysian time) off the 1st tee , grouped with France’s Perrine Delacour and American Brittany Altomare.
