DALY CITY, Calif. – Anne van Dam of the Netherlands is a rookie, but she’s already the must-see show on the driving range at LPGA events.
She’s one of those players that other tour pros pause to watch when she pulls out her driver.
“When you’re walking down the range, she definitely stands out,” Sweden’s Pernilla Lindberg said. “She hits it like a guy more than any other girl out here. Her power, for sure, sets her apart, but her swing is impressive. It just looks like she gets in all the textbook positions.”
Van Dam, 23, might have taken her first step to being more than a star on the range at LPGA events.
With a 5-under 67 Thursday, she moved into a share of the lead at the Mediheal Championship. She rolled in a 45-foot putt for birdie at the 14th hole, a 35-footer for birdie at the 17th and a 10-foot birdie at the 18th to tie U.S. Women’s Open winners So Yeon Ryu and Eun Hee Ji atop the leaderboard.
Full-field scores from the LPGA Mediheal Championship
Van Dam has already won four times on the Ladies European Tour, but Thursday marked the first time she has ever led or shared the lead in an LPGA event. Impressively, she did so at Lake Merced Golf Club, a venerable Bay Area course known as a ball-striker’s workshop, a place without overly generous fairways and with thick, penal rough. The women weren’t supposed to be able to play bomb-and-gouge this week.
Van Dam did.
But here’s the thing about the Dutch rookie: While she loves putting on a good fireworks show with her driver, she’s eager to prove she’s the real deal, a complete player who has the tools to win against the best players in the world.
She is eager to do it this year.
“I know deep down, I can play really good golf,” Van Dam said. “It doesn’t matter what golf course. I have a lot of confidence. So, every week I go out, I have a chance to win, but then, on the other hand, I have told myself to be very realistic [as a rookie]. I learned that from my first year in Europe. I learned it from a couple Symetra Tour events I played last year.
“For me, it takes a bit of time to get used to the rhythms and everything around [tour golf].”
Van Dam stands 5 feet, 10 inches. She is lean and sinewy, with a powerful move to the ball. She is already the longest hitter in the LPGA ranks, surpassing Angel Yin, Sung Hyun Park, Lexi Thompson and Brittany Lincicome. She’s averaging 289.1 yards per drive, 5 yards longer than Yin, 7 yards longer than Park and 14 yards longer than Thompson.
Again, Van Dam wants to be known for more than those numbers.
“It drives me a lot, to have people tell me, ‘You are a good putter,’ or ‘Your short game is good,’ or ‘You hit your wedges good,’” Van Dam said. “So, yeah, I work on that.
“I don’t work on my driving that much anymore. It’s so automatic. That’s where I put in so much time during this off season, on my shots 150 yards and in. Because that’s where I have pretty much all my shots.”
Van Dam says she has worked from those distances to be able to hit draws and fades, low shots and high shots.
“I’m working very hard on that,” she said.
With two LET titles last year and one this year, Van Dam holds the top spot on the LET Solheim Cup points rankings. This week marks her sixth LPGA start as a rookie. She has missed two cuts, with her best finish a T-28 at the Kia Classic, another course that doesn’t seem to favor big hitters.
“I haven’t gotten off to the best start I hoped for, but I’ve learned a lot in the first few events,” Van Dam said. “As long as I keep doing that, I think it’s going to be a good year.”
Van Dam showed some poise rebounding from a rough start Thursday. She bogeyed two of the first four holes and then played the final 14 holes in 7 under. She hit a 300-yard bomb at the eighth hole and then sunk an 80-yard wedge for eagle. She said she hit “a lot” of drivers.
“The first time I saw her play, I was paired with her at Kingsbarns in the first two rounds of the Women’s British Open,” Lindberg said. “I saw enough in her swing and ball-striking to be impressed that if she worked on her course management, she could compete at the highest level.”