Kaiser grad Malia Nam has solid opening round at LOTTE Championship

HONOLULU (HawaiiNewsNow) – The early morning showers and blistering winds didn’t put a damper on the play at Hoakalei Country Club for the first round of the 2024 LOTTE Championship.
120 players hit the course Wednesday, including Hawaii’s own Malia Nam who carded a solid opening round.
The LPGA rookie started her day at 7:07 a.m. getting a par of her first two holes before a birdie on three.
“I definitely felt a little more jitters than I normally did on the first hole.” Nam told reporters.
The Kaiser graduate would make the turn at 1-under par, but would stay at 1-over through the back 9 after a bogey on 11.
However, Nam sinks a chip out of the bunker for eagle on 18 to finish the day at 1-under.
“So I was just like, well, let’s just try to get a birdie, luckily it went in,” Nam said. “If you saw how my day was going my putter was ice cold; not in a good way, so it seemed kind of fitting that I would chip it in on the last hole.”
The Kailua native is hoping for a strong round tomorrow to catapult her into the weekend.
“Minimizing as much mistakes as you can, just taking par on the holes that are playing really tough into the wind and then just playing smart,” Nam said. “Not trying to get too frustrated, I think this wind is very hard for everyone, so I just want to see something maybe 1-under, 2-under, obviously the lower the better, just another good solid round of golf and hopefully can go low on the weekend.”
Round two of the LOTTE is set for Thursday with the final round on Saturday.
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