Major championship winners Chun In-gee of South Korea and Thailand’s Ariya Jutanugarn on Thursday shared the lead with three others atop a crowded first-round leaderboard at the Bank of Hope Founders Cup.
Ariya, who won last year’s Women’s British Open, and 2015 US Women’s Open champion Chun both shot eight-under 64 for a five-way tie for first with Americans Katie Burnett, Sandra Changkija and Stacy Lewis.
Ariya, 21, delivered a bogey-free round that was highlighted by an eagle on the par-five 15th on the Desert Ridge Course.
“I feel pretty good, because I tried to work on my commitment today and it’s came out pretty good,” Ariya said. “I missed a few putts, but I made two pretty long ones.”
Chun, 22, has two majors on her resume, as she also won the Evian Championship last year. She had nine birdies, including four in a row bridging the front and back nine.
The LPGA Tour players had to battle searing heat all day, with temperatures reaching 32°C.
Lewis played with Ariya. She had an eye-popping front nine that was capped by a 136-yard hole-out eagle at the par-four ninth.
“Nine was awesome,” 11-time LPGA Tour winner Lewis said. “The nine-iron was perfect in the air. It was nice to see it go in.”
“If you tell me at the beginning of the day I would shoot eight-under, and I’ll take it any time,” she added.
Michelle Wie, hoping her game has been revitalized, shot a seven-under 65, to tie with Vicky Hurst, Julie Inkster, Jane Park and Sherman Santiwiwatthanaphong.
World No. 1 Lydia Ko shot four-under. She also assisted playing partner Kim Sei-young, who was stung on her right hand by a bee.
“After she hit her second shot on the 11th hole, she said: ‘Have you been stung by a bee before?’” Ko said.
Defending champion Kim was then treated by medical personnel before restarting her round.
Despite the bee sting, Kim fired a five-under 67.
“Sixty seven with a bee-sting is very impressive,” Ko said.
Kaohsiung-born Candie Kung of the US carded a three-under 69 to tie for 46th, while Taiwan’s Min Lee, Cheng Ssu-chia and Yani Tseng finished in a large group tied for 88th on one-under and were projected to miss the cut.
Hsu Wei-ling carded a two-over 74 to tie for 130th, while Chien Pei-yun finished tied for 133rd.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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