Auston Kim carded the only bogey-free opening round, shooting a 68 to stand in a three-way tie for first place at the Blue Bay LPGA on Thursday on Hainan Island, China.
Sharing the lead with her at 4 under are South Korean A Lim Kim and Ayaka Furue of Japan.
A Lim Kim had a roller-coaster opening round with an eagle, six birdies and four bogeys. Furue bogeyed her first hole, the scattered five birdies throughout the round to close with the tie.
The three golfers sit atop a packed leaderboard entering second-round play Friday at the Jian Lake Blue Bay Golf Course.
Eight players are tied for fourth at 3-under par, with a dozen more carding 2-under rounds of 70.
In all, 42 players are at even par or better.
Defending champion Bailey Tardy shot a 75.
Among the group tied for second is Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand, who led the field with seven birdies but also had four bogeys, including one at No. 18 that dropped her out of a share for the lead.
Thitikul, who played the front nine at 4 under, said the windy conditions played havoc on the back nine.
“I think today played a little bit harder on the back nine, because like a lot of into the wind, especially hole No. 10 is so insane,” she said. “But overall, I think shooting under par here, no matter it’s front or back nine, it’s good enough.”
Auston Kim, a Floridian who played collegiately at Vanderbilt, is in her second season and seeking her first LPGA Tour win. She completed her round with 26 putts and said she was confident in that part of her game this week.
“I think there was a lot of trust in my short game and putting today,” she said. “Felt good right out of the gate, and been putting in a lot of work the past few weeks.
“So trusting the work I’ve been putting in and knowing that if I made a bogey it was OK, but if I made the par, fantastic. Just move on to the next one and try my best.”
Furue, the No. 7 player in the world, is riding a hot hand. She finished tied for second last week at the HSBC Women’s World Championship.
She, too, was happy with her performance on the warm and windy day.
“I felt my shot was really good today,” she said. “I made a lot of birdie chances today so that was really kind of make my round good today.”
–Field Level Media
