ELIZABETHTOWN, KY (July 17, 2023) – Despite severe weather that pushed back starting times by two and a half hours, Lydia Gumm began a triumphant return to competitive golf in her home state today. She fired a 9-under 63 in the first round of the 27th Kentucky Women's Open at Elizabethtown Country Club. The Radcliff native, also the 2016 champion of this event, is playing in the tournament for the first time since her win. 

Gumm started strong and never let up, with 2 birdies in her first 4 holes that quickly placed her at the top of the leaderboard. An additional birdie and an eagle on the eighth hole put her at -5 as she made the turn, maintaining her lead. Her stellar round continued on the back, with another birdie on 13 and on the final three holes. 

Currently, Gumm is the Carolyn Macow Leatherwood Head Coach for the women's golf team at the University of Houston. She credits her own time playing collegiately at Florida State University for her success both as a coach and a player, as she "understands how her players feel" when they compete and wants to do her best as a coach to help them navigate their rounds. Additionally, she wants to be able to "give her girls the best experience" she can with their college careers and credits this feeling as what drove her to compete this week. By continuing to compete herself, she can bring this understanding to coaching. 

Gumm enters tomorrow with an 8-shot lead over Mt. Washington's Macie Brown and Glagow's Abbie Lee. Both Brown and Lee had very solid rounds, each with three birdies and two bogeys. 

Notes & Stats:

• Holes 12 and 14, both a par 4, tied as the most difficult of the day, with an average score of 4.69
• Par-5 18 played as the easiest hole of the day, averaging .17 strokes under par
• There were two eagles today - Gumm's on 8 and Ella Scherer's on hole 4 - and a total of 68 birdies
• The scoring average was 77.21

Click here to view the leaderboard 
Click here to view Tuesday's tee time
Click here for the photo gallery