Jennifer Kupcho and Denmark’s Nanna Koerstz Madsen climbed to the top of the leaderboard after one round of the Founders Cup on Thursday in Bradenton, Fla.
Kupcho and Madsen posted rounds of 6-under-par 65 at Bradenton Country Club and built a one-shot lead over Angel Yin, Lauren Coughlin and South Korea’s Jin Hee Im.
Kupcho made just one bogey against seven birdies, four of which came on the back nine. The former major winner hit 15 of 18 greens in regulation and was happy with her game overall.
“I hit the ball pretty well,” she said. “I think when I needed to not hit an iron shot as well it worked out, and when I needed to smash one, the ball went as far as it needed to go. It kind of just was a day of everything was going right.”
Kupcho, 27, won three times in the 2022 season, including the Chevron Championship for her first major, but since then she has yet to return to the winner’s circle.
“I think 2024 was honestly, aside from the three wins, three-win season, it was one of my best seasons,” Kupcho said. “It was the most consistent for sure of all my seasons, so I think just trying to like improve on that. And I think really last year I kind of fell in love with the game more, so I think I’m just kind of like bringing that into this year.”
Madsen started her day on the back nine and opened with six pars in a row before she got on the roller coaster.
She sank three birdies in a row to finish her first nine and kept it going with birdies at Nos. 1 and 2. A bogey-birdie-bogey stretch followed, but she righted the ship and added her last two birdies at Nos. 7 and 8.
“I was very pleased with the round,” Madsen, 30, said of her season debut. “I didn’t really know where my game would be at going into the round so I did have a little slow start just with pars, but I think my iron game was the better part.”
Madsen, like Kupcho, is searching for her first win on tour since 2022.
Coughlin, 32, is coming off a breakthrough season that saw her win her first two LPGA Tour titles and play for the winning U.S. Solheim Cup team. She put six birdies and one bogey on the card Thursday.
“There are definitely still things I need to work on and get better, but a lot of what I do in my full swing, like I’ve been able to keep it strong for a really long time,” Coughlin said. “So just not making any changes in the stuff I was doing really well, but then working on the areas that I need to focus on and try to get better in those areas, but, again, not neglecting anything that I do really well.”
Jin Young Ko of South Korea and Celine Boutier of France are part of a large tie for sixth at 4-under 67. Nelly Korda opened with a 3-under 68, and Lexi Thompson, who retired from full-time competition after 2024 but is playing this week, had a 2-under 69.
Rose Zhang, who won the tournament last season when it was held in New Jersey in May, is not in the field to defend as she returned to Stanford for classes.
–Field Level Media
