Nelly Korda and Lydia Ko were tied at the top of the leaderboard after the first round of the LPGA Drive On Championship on Thursday.
Korda and Ko shot six-under-par 65s at Bradenton Country Club, giving them a one-shot lead over Denmark’s Nanna Koerstz Madsen.
Korda, a Bradenton native, is seeking her first LPGA victory since November 2022, while New Zealand’s Ko could win her third consecutive outing.
Ko was victorious in last week’s season opener, the Hilton Grand Vacations Tournament of Champions, as well as winning December’s mixed-team exhibition along with Australia’s Jason Day, the Grant Thornton Invitational.
“Definitely nice to be able to win the first event of the year, especially because you don’t have anything really to reference your round off or your game,” Ko said.
“Grant Thornton was only five weeks ago, but that’s a completely different format, and so wasn’t like I was coming in with a ton of really good momentum.
“But just trying to feed off what was going well last week, and overall I thought I played really solid.”
Ko rolled in six birdies on a bogey-free day, while Korda’s round was more adventurous.
Korda brushed off an opening bogey by birdies on the par-4 second and third holes. After another birdie at the par-5 sixth, she went eagle-birdie-birdie from eight to 10 to rise to 6 under.
She described her eagle at the par-5 eighth as a “tap-in”.
“I hit my driver really well on this hole. Gosh, I think I had 257 into the pin and hit my 3-wood really good. It was helping off the left. Played it nicely off the slope to a tap-in.”
She finished her round with a second bogey and her sixth and final birdie.
“I love every single time I get to play in Florida,” Korda said. “I feel like people come out and support. But it’s better to play literally in your hometown, so definitely felt a lot of the support and it was great.”
Koerstz Madsen made six birdies and a single bogey for her five-under 66.
“It was a good day. I played steady golf,” she said. “Missed a green here and there but made an up and down. My approach was just staying – being a little patient out there because it was a grind. I mean, it was a lot of wind out there, so keep it on the high side of the hole.”
China’s Ruoning Yin, last year’s Women’s PGA Championship winner, opened with a four-under 67, tying for fourth with South Koreans Sei Young Kim and Minji Kang and Thailand’s Chanettee Wannasaen.
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