There are plenty of players in the field for this week’s LPGA Drive On Championship – Reynolds Lake Oconee who have more championships, more wins and more accolades than Mariah Stackhouse.
But the Riverdale native has a secret weapon: her mother, Sharon.
After whipping up breakfast for her daughter Thursday morning – “scrambled eggs, bacon, oatmeal and something else I’m completely forgetting,” Stackhouse said – Sharon played the role of supportive mom and walked 18 holes at Great Waters.
And Mariah, being the good daughter, responded in-kind. She produced a 2-under 70, leaving her in a tie for 14th, five shots behind co-leaders Danielle Kang and Jennifer Song, who opened with 65s. Ally McDonald, who played at Mississippi State, is alone in third after shooting 66.
“My mom’s out watching,” Stackhouse said. “We got somebody clapping.”
There were plenty of applause-worthy shots during the round. Stackhouse had two birdies – both within a foot of the hole -- on the front nine to turn in 34, but gave both back with a double bogey at No. 10, where she had the misfortune of landing close to the lip of a fairway bunker and then “just really flubbed a chip shot.”
Stackhouse, a four-time All-American at Stanford and a pro since 2017, has learned to leave those misfortunes behind.
“It’s golf. Those things happen,” she said. “I say to myself, ‘You’re playing well, that was a blooper. Just go get it back.’”
That advice paid off. She quickly regained the momentum with birdies at Nos. 11 and 13. She just missed a birdie putt on the 18th.
For most of the day Stackhouse gave herself birdie opportunities by hitting approach shots near the hole location. She was locked in on finding the proper portion of the green.
“I think I navigated the course well,” she said. “My caddie studied, so he knows the sides on certain pins you want to favor here, and if you miss, miss on that side. So, I think we played very smartly.”
For Stackhouse, competing as a professional in her home state brings her full circle from childhood. She would attend the old Chick-fil-A Charity Championship at Eagle’s Landing and served as a standard bearer one year. Stackhouse would pull for Lorena Ochoa, her favorite LPGA player. “Hands down,” she said. “I met her at that tournament, too. She was really sweet.”
And while Stackhouse is eager to see what the rest of the week will bring, she already had made plans with her mother for Thursday evening. After a session with Mariah’s physiotherapist and then dinner, Sharon and Mariah Stackhouse were going to watch the season finale of “Lovecraft Country.”
Kang, the points leader in the Race to the CME Globe, played a bogey-free round after methodically hitting 17 of 18 greens in regulation. Kang, winner of the 2017 KPMG Women’s PGA Champion and a pair of U.S. Women’s Ams, is shooting for her third win of the season.
Song, a former U.S. Women’s Amateur and U.S. Women’s Public Links champion, strung together four consecutive birdies on the back nine. She hit every fairway and every green in regulation, making her only bogey at No. 5.
“I’m really happy about 7 under par today,” Song said. “I didn’t think that was possible to shoot that score out there, but I had a great round. … Definitely I made a lot of putts, but I think the most important thing was making good judgment, and execution was spot on.”
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