Karis Davidson came into the BMW Championship clinging to one of the last spots in the season-ending CME Group Tour Championship. With an $11 million purse and a $4 million first-place prize, gaining entry into the 60-player field is a high priority for LPGA players.
Australia's Davidson, who currently ranks 59th on the Race to CME Globe, opened with a 6-under 66 at Pine Beach Golf Links, known as the Pebble Beach of South Korea, on a cold, windy day.
"It was just kind of one of those perfect days with my irons and hybrids, that I nearly had a hole-in-one on the first birdie on the front nine," said Davidson, who holds a share of the lead with Japan's Yuri Yoshida.
Spain's Julia Lopez Ramirez, one of the longest players in the game, shot 67 to
hold a share of third with world No. 3 Haeran Ryu, Lauren Coughlin and Lucy Li.
Lopez Ramirez entered the week 71st in the rankings and said she killed time during a slow day on the course playing Sudoku in between shots. She also soaked in the scenery.
"Especially when it's blue skies out here, the views are insane," said Lopez Ramirez. "It's so pretty and so many trees and the greens and little islands. You lose your mind going in there." It's quite pretty."
Li entered the week 69th on the CME rankings. She birdied all the par 5s in her opening 67.
Carlota Ciganda, Lopez Ramirez's partner at the Solheim Cup, came into the week No. 60 on the CME points list after a fifth-place finish last week in China, where she incurred a two-stroke penalty for slow play. Ciganda shot 69 on Thursday in South Korea and holds a share of eighth.
Coughlin double-bogeyed the fifth hole to get to 2 over early and then made seven birdies coming in to finish 5 under. She had 28 putts on the day.
Ryu, a two-time major winner this year who recently won on the KLPGA, recorded one of four bogey-free rounds. She hit 17 greens in regulation, leading the field in that category with Angel Yin. Ryu made birdie on her only missed green of the day, the par-4 fifth.
The BMW is the second of four no-cut events in the LPGA's fall Asia swing. The cutoff for the CME falls at the conclusion of next month's Annika driven by Gainbridge at Pelican in Belleair, Florida, giving players four more opportunities to make their moves.
Beth Ann Nichols is a Golfweek senior writer covering the LPGA and women's golf.
This article originally appeared on Golfweek: CME bubble players making moves early at LPGA's BMW Championship
