Trio Of Local Stars Delight TPC Boston Crowd At FM Championship

NORTON, Mass. — Megan Khang wore a bright fuschia quarter-zip and a white visor that made her easy to spot from anywhere. The large crowds following her around TPC Boston were a pretty strong giveaway, too.

Khang headlined a trio of local golf stars, who drew large crowds Friday morning in the second round of the inaugural FM Championship at TPC Boston in Norton, Mass. The Brockton, Mass., native starred in one of three consecutive groupings featuring local talents, sandwiched between Alison Walshe of Westford and Foxboro native Alexa Pano.

Khang unsurprisingly fared the best of the three, shooting an up-and-down 1-under 71.

The No. 21-ranked player in the Rolex Rankings started on the back nine, erasing a bogey on the opening 10th to play the next seven holes at 4-under. She gave one back at the par-5 18th and struggled at the third and fourth with bogey and double bogey, respectively. She turned things on down the stretch, with birdies on her final two holes to get in the house at 3-under.

The local trio gave the hometown fans something to cheer about on the exciting stretch of holes between the 15th and 17th. Walshe started it off by chipping in for birdie from in front of the green, and Khang followed with a birdie of her own in the next group by throwing a dart from the fairway.

Pano also went pin-seeking in the third grouping but missed her birdie putt.

Walshe and Pano didn’t quite have the success Khang enjoyed over the first two days. The former at 39 was making her first LPGA start in years as a sponsor’s invite. After a tough 80 in the first round, she was much better Friday. She went out at even par but a triple bogey on her 13th hole blew up her day en route to a 75. Pano, meanwhile, will need some help getting to the weekend after finishing at 3-over, one shot off the projected 2-over cut.

Khang, though, remains New England’s hope for a hometown title, and she thinks being in front of friendly faces could make a difference.

“It’s going to be a lot of fun,” she said in her post-round press conference. “I have a lot of family coming out. It’s really cool having the crowd behind you. I think they saw I was a little frustrated as well, but those little kind of pick-me-ups throughout, going to the next tee, kind of helped keep me in a positive mindset.”

What makes Khang’s performance even more impressive through two rounds is how she has had to handle the expectations and responsibilities that come with playing a tournament close to home. She is not only under the FM umbrella, but Khang has also been called on to represent the tour at numerous events this week. That she’s been able to do that while still playing high-level golf impresses one of the all-time greats.

“It’s not an easy task to represent the company as well as kind of be the host. She has handled it magnificently,” six-time major champion Pat Bradley told NESN.com while following Khang’s group on No. 1. “She’s easy going, she’s a jokester, and she’s having fun with it. She knows when to turn it on and when to turn it off and concentrate.

” … She has done a fabulous job. She’s easy to like, and she’s easy to watch.”

If Thursday and Friday were any indication, there will be no shortage of local golf fans leaning that this weekend.