Ashleigh Buhai of South Africa set the early tempo on the Kroger Queen Metropolis Championship with a 7-under-par 65 within the first spherical Thursday in Maineville, Ohio.
Buhai racked up eight birdies and carries a one-shot lead into Friday. Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand and Yan Liu of China are at 6-under 66 after their first spherical by means of TPC River’s Bend, which is internet hosting the match for the primary time.
The group tied at 5-under 67 consists of World No. 1 Nelly Korda, Olympic gold medalist Lydia Ko of New Zealand and Leona Maguire of Eire. Additionally a part of that tie are Savannah Grewal of Canada, Jasmine Suwannapura of Thailand, Peiyun Chien of Taiwan, Polly Mack of Germany and Angel Yin.
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For now, they’re all wanting up at Buhai, the 2022 Ladies’s Open champion with 22 skilled wins worldwide, most of them in her native South Africa.
“I hit it nice, putted effectively. That tends so as to add as much as what it did,” Buhai stated. “Yeah, I feel I used to be simply good with after I may assault. On the similar time, play to areas.
“There have been a couple of pins on the market the place you needed to nonetheless attempt to be aggressive, and the greens bought a little bit agency and ran by means of, however then made some good up and downs to maintain me in it.”
Buhai birdied the par-3 sixteenth gap to maneuver to 7-under earlier than carding her lone bogey on the following gap. She made up for it at No. 18, a par-5, together with her ultimate birdie of the day.
She stated she appreciated how TPC River’s Bend had three reachable par-5 holes.
“I am not lengthy. I am in all probability common out right here and I may stand up to a few of the par-5s, which was type of good for a change,” Buhai stated. “So I feel it’s set as much as go low, however on the similar time, there have been some fairly difficult pins on the market that have been entrance and type of downwind and also you ended up being lengthy and I simply needed to take that and chip again.”
Thitikul, 21, is a former World No. 1 however is looking for her first particular person LPGA win in two years. She teamed up with China’s Ruoning Yin to win the Dow Championship, the tour’s lone staff occasion, in June.
“I feel why I play effectively can be my mindset is type of relaxed,” Thitikul stated. “So simply type of make me like enjoying good, not like put stress on myself that a lot.”
Thitikul performed her spherical with Korda, who hit all 14 fairways in regulation and performed a bogey-free spherical. It is her first motion since serving to the USA defeat Crew Europe within the Solheim Cup.
“Everybody that performed final week goes to be drained,” Korda stated. “I am simply making an attempt to take it one step at a time, know that my power ranges aren’t the best, however I am nonetheless motivated and one hundred pc.”
Ko additionally went bogey-free Thursday and is enjoying for the primary time since successful the Ladies’s Open simply two weeks after her Olympic triumph.
“I feel my husband and I type of flip to one another at occasions and go, ‘Wow, I can not consider you gained the Olympics after which the AIG Ladies’s Open.’ So it was type of like being punched within the face twice in an excellent means,” Ko quipped. “Clearly very grateful.”
Australia’s Minjee Lee, the defending champion, opened with a 1-under 71.
