CHASKA, Minn. (AP) — Ina Yoon matched the best score in the history of the Women's PGA Championship with a 9-under 63 to take a two-stroke lead over Karis Davidson on Thursday in the third major of the season.
Yoon, a 23-year-old South Korean seeking her first LPGA Tour victory, birdied five of her last six holes at Hazeltine National Golf Club with a putter that was consistently on point.
Nelly Korda, who’s aiming to become just the third women to win
the first three major tournaments on the schedule, had a 70.
Davidson, who finished more than four hours after Yoon, had eight birdies on the way to a career-best 65 on a calm and partly cloudy afternoon that yielded a bevy of low scores on the long course southwest of Minneapolis that requires accuracy and muscle off the tee.
Alexa Pano and A Lim Kim were tied for third 67, and Aline Krauter, Hye-Jin Choi and Megan Kang followed at 68.
Korda (second round in 2021) and Patty Sheehan (third round in 1984) also posted 9-under 63s at previous Women’s PGA Championships.
Yoon logged the fourth-best first-round score at any major since at least 1980, trailing Hyo Joo Kim at the Evian Championship in 2014 (10-under 61), Mirim Lee at the Women’s British Open in 2016 (10-under 61), and Lorena Ochoa at the Kraft Nabisco Championship (10-under 62).
The 39th-ranked player in the world, Yoon sounded like she surprised even herself with the stellar start.
“I just hit the golf ball and it just dropped in the hole and it was really an awesome experience,” Yoon said, later explaining her mental approach: “Just try to think nothing. Focus on what I need to do. Focus on process. That part I think I did great today.”
Davidson, who has made cuts in 15 straight tournaments for the third-longest active streak on tour behind Korda (31) and Celine Boutier (20), is also seeking her first career victory.
“Hit a lot of fairways. Hit a lot of greens. Putting was pretty on today. Really felt like I was going to hole everything,” Davidson said. “So it was a pretty perfect round.”
Davidson, a 27-year-old Australian, had her best finish earlier this year with a tie for fifth at the Aramco Championship in April. Fellow countrymate and close friend Hannah Green won the Women’s PGA Championship in 2019, the last time it was at Hazeltine.
Jeeno Thitikul, the second-ranked player in the world who's seeking her first career major, shot a 69. This is the fifth time she has finished the first round in the top 10 in a major, including the Women's PGA Championship last year. The Thai star broke 70 in official regular stroke play last season 45 times, the second-highest total on tour.
The runaway LPGA tour scoring leader at the midpoint of the season, Korda double-bogeyed the lakeside 16th hole with “one bad swing” that landed in a pond to the left for a first-shot penalty stroke.
“I just overturned it. By now you just feel it when it’s bad. So the wind was off the right and I actually I think just made a too fast of a swing and I was kind of in between clubs,” Korda said. “It’s a pretty intimidating tee shot, and I just didn’t really like the way I hit it off the start.”
Korda's 19-foot putt on the 18th green stopped an inch from the hole before she tapped in for par, finishing about the same time as Yoon, who wrapped up nearby on the ninth hole. Inbee Park (2013) and Babe Zaharias (1950) are the only women in golf history to win the first three majors in one calendar year.
Amanda Doherty had hole-in-one on the 17th in a 72.
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