A 15-year-old Monday qualifier just made the cut in her LPGA debut
Last week’s U.S. Women’s Open champion, Allisen Corpuz, earned three degrees in five years at USC.
Mia Hammond still has three years left … of high school.
But that hasn’t stopped the 15-year-old Hammond, a rising sophomore at New Albany (Ohio) High, from making the most of her LPGA debut. Hammond Monday-qualified for this week’s Dana Open in Sylvania, Ohio, before carding back-to-back rounds of 3-under 68 to not only make the cut, but she’s also T-20 and just five shots back of leader Annie Park heading into Saturday.
“I was a little nervous going into today,” Hammond said. “The nerves didn’t really hit until the third or fourth hole. But I got myself leveled out pretty quickly. It’s just a different environment than anything I’ve been used to.”
Hammond is currently the sixth-ranked player in the Class of 2026. The No. 1 player in that class, Gianna Clemente, Monday’d into three straight LPGA events last summer. Clemente, however, went 0 for 3 in making the weekend.
Playing 72 holes was her goal at the start of the week, Hammond says. She got off to a strong start in Thursday’s opening round, birdieing five of her first 10 holes at Highland Meadows Golf Club. On Friday, she birdied her first hole, the par-4 10th hole, before carding a double bogey at the par-4 11th hole. Those would be her only two dropped shots, though, as she birdied Nos. 17 and 18, and then Nos. 3 and 4.
Through two rounds, Hammond is averaging 265 yards off the tee while hitting 22 of 28 fairways, 28 of 36 greens and averaging 29 putts per round.
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She’ll tee off Saturday morning alongside Stephanie Kyriacou and Yu Liu.
“To know that I did that (make the cut), it’s just, it is a breath of fresh air,” Hammond said. “It’s so, just relieving, it takes a lot of stress off my chest. I can go to the weekend having fun and just never forget it.”
As for her new goal, Hammond is aiming high.
“I would say, for now, I’m going to set a goal as top 20,” Hammond said. “If it happens to be better than that then that’s great.”
