Who is Perrine Delacour? All you need to know about the 29-year-old leading LPGA Portland Classic
Perrine Delacour carded a 9-under 63 in the first round of the LPGA Portland amid challenging weather conditions on Thursday, August 31.
Delacour sank six birdies in the first seven holes, including five in a row from holes 3 to 7, and finished the front nine at 30. On the back nine, she made three birdies on holes 14, 15, and 17, taking a one-stroke lead over Gina Kim after her first day at the Macan Course.
The weather conditions were far from ideal, with non-stop rain and temperatures in the low 60s. The 29-year-old Frenchwoman was quoted as saying via the LPGA Tour:
“We knew it was going to be wet, so my main goal was to try to get my club as dry as we can, which we did pretty good with my caddie. I played solid. I hit 16 greens, and when I was missing them I was pretty easy up and down."
Born on April 5, 1994, in Laon, France, Perrine Delacour registered several victories in her amateur career. In 2009, she claimed the Girls Amateur Championship at the age of 15. Two years later, she triumphed at the French International Ladies Amateur Championship. She was also part of the winning French team at the European Girls' Team Championship later that year.
The following year, Delacour made it to the semifinals of the British Ladies Amateur Championship and was also a member of the French team at the Espirito Santo Trophy. Later that year, she earned her LPGA Tour card via Q-School.
In 2013, Delacour made her LPGA Tour debut at the Mobile Bay LPGA Classic but failed to impress as she missed the card after shooting 74 and 77 in the first two rounds. The same year, she finished runner-up at the Eagle Classic and at the Symetra Tour Championship.
After playing 14 events on the Symetra Tour that year, Perrine Delacour finished eighth on the money leader's list and earned the full exemption for the following LPGA Tour season. She made five cuts in her first full LPGA Tour season, and her best finish came at the ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open, where she finished T15.
The following year, Delacour made much improvement and finished fourth in the Kingsmill Championship, marking her first top-10 finish. She also made her major debut at the 2015 Women's PGA Championship and finished T49.
The Laon native was still struggling on the LPGA Tour, as she could make only half the cuts out of the 40 starts over the 2017 and 2018 seasons. She then went on to play on the Symtera Tour for the 2019 season, where she made 12 cuts out of 14 starts. She also claimed her first professional victory in June of that year at the Four Winds Invitational, beating Jillian Hollis by two strokes.
Within three weeks, she claimed her second title at the 2019 Prasco Charity Championship after registering a 7-stroke win over Patty Tavatanakithe. She probably had her best season in 2019, which earned her the Symetra Tour Player of the Year award, and she was promoted to the 2020 LPGA Tour as a result.
In a decade-long career on the LPGA Tour, the 29-year-old Frenchwoman has made just five top-10 finishes, and her best result is a third-place finish at the 2020 ISPS Handa Women's Australian Open.
Earlier this year, Perrine Delacour finished T11 at the Women's PGA Championship, her best-ever finish in majors so far.
When will Perrine Delacour resume playing at the LPGA Portland Classic?
Perrine Delcour is paired with Jasmine Suwannapura and Soo Bin Joo for the second round of the LPGA Tour Portland Classic. The pair will resume playing from hole 10 on Friday, September 1, at 12:37 pm ET.