Anna Davis has a flair for the dramatic.
Just a month after her ANWA triumph, Davis yet again used a late rally to pen another chapter to her growing lore. This time, it came in her first ever start on the LPGA Tour.
Standing on the 16th tee of her second round at the Palos Verdes Championship, the 16-year-old was two shots outside the cut line. Her LPGA debut had been solid to that point, but it looked as though it would end in a missed cut.
Davis had other ideas.
The lefty smashed her drive down the fairway on the par-5 and put herself in position to have a go at the green in two. From there, she hit her approach onto the green some 40 feet from the hole. The putt found the bottom of the cup.
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“I think even hitting off the tee I knew I had to go for it,” Davis said. “I went for it in two and obviously that worked out well.”
The teenager stood squarely on the cut line at two over after the eagle, and her strategy became a bit more conservative. Two pars would likely be good enough for a weekend tee time.
But on the par-3 17th, Davis yet again wowed the crowd. Her tee shot settled within 10 feet of the cup, and she poured in the birdie try to move her comfortably inside the cut line.
“I knew I had to go par, par after the eagle, so to have a birdie there,” she said. “A cushion, that was nice to not feel as much pressure.”
Davis finished with a par at the 18th for a second-round 72 that secured her a weekend tee time at Palos Verdes Golf Club.
But, true to form, the bucket-hat-wearing kid from California played it cool.
“It’ll be cool to play this weekend,” she said.