Yuka Saso and Brittany Altomare shared the lead in the opening round of the LPGA Lotte Championship on Wednesday, finishing atop a tight leaderboard that also includes Canadian Brooke Henderson in search of her third straight title, while Taiwan’s Hsu Wei-ling was tied for seventh.
Saso, a 19-year-old from the Philippines who made history for her country with double Asian Games golf gold in 2018, was first in the clubhouse on eight-under 64, racing home with four of her eight birdies at her last four holes.
Altomare, of the US, followed with an even more impressive surge, stringing together seven straight birdies after the turn on the way to nine birdies and a bogey for an eight-under total.
Photo: AFP
Saso, a two-time winner on the Japan LPGA Tour, said there was no real secret to her success at Kapolei Golf Club in Oahu, Hawaii.
“I made some good putts, had good up and downs, my driving was very consistent today,” said Saso, who is playing this week on a sponsor’s exemption.
Saso opened with a birdie on 10 and added birdies at 17, 18 and the fourth, before reeling off birdies at six, seven, eight and nine.
Tied at five-under 67, Hsu, with birdies on two, six, seven, nine and 17, was in good company at seventh alongside world No. 3 Kim Sei-young of South Korea, who won the tournament in 2015, as well as New Zealand’s Lydia Ko, American Jessica Korda, Northern Ireland’s Stephanie Meadow, South Korean Lee Mi-hyang and amateur Rose Zhang.
Meanwhile, Taiwan’s Cheng Ssu-chia, 23, had a two-under 70, with birdies on nine, 10, 11 and 14, tempered by bogeys on eight and 15, placing her tied for 48th.
Min Lee was six-over on the par-72 course to tie for 141, while former world No. 1 Yani Tseng was seven-over at the bottom in 144th place.
Additional reporting by staff writer
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