WONJU, South Korea– World No. 2 Atthaya Thitikul grabbed the opening round lead at the lone LPGA stop in South Korea on Thursday with a bogey-free start.
The Thai rookie sensation carded a nine-under 63 in the first round of the BMW Ladies Championship at Oak Valley Country Club in Wonju, some 85 kilometers east of Seoul, with seven birdies and a hole-out eagle on the par-four 13th.
Thitikul leads South Korean amateur Kim Min-sol by one stroke. Three golfers sit three behind Thitikul, including the 2020 U.S. Women’s Open champion from South Korea, Kim A-lim.
The 19-year-old has won twice this year and is currently leading the LPGA Rookie of the Year points race at 1,425 points, with South Korean Choi Hye-jin trailing her at 1,182 points. A tour victory is worth 150 points, and there will be three tournaments left this season after the BMW Ladies Championship.
“I had a really solid round today. I holed out for an eagle for the first time in my life in any competition,” Thitikul said. “Today, it’s my day.”
Ko Jin-young, world No. 1 and defending champion from South Korea, had a disastrous first round with an eight-over 80. She had a rare quintuple bogey at the par-five 18th and picked up six bogeys against three birdies.
She is playing for the first time in two months after recovering from a wrist injury.
“It was more difficult than I’d anticipated. Maybe I was too excited to play for the first time in a while, and I got carried away a bit,” Ko said. “I don’t want to make any excuse with my wrist. I played hard but didn’t score as well as I wanted to.”
Ko is one of four South Korean winners on the LPGA Tour this season but the country has not produced a winner in the last 12 tournaments.
Thitikul can all but lock down the top rookie prize and will overtake Ko for the No. 1 ranking with a win here. But Thitikul said those scenarios were far from her mind.
“I just want go out and play, and just focus on what I have to do,” she said. “What I have been thinking about is yardage and how I am going to hit shots.”
There is no cut to this 72-hole event for 78 players. The tournament offers US$2 million won in purse, with $300,000 going to the champion.
Before Ko won this tournament last year, another South Korean, Jang Hana, won the inaugural edition in 2019. The 2020 tournament was canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.
Source: Yonhap News Agency