LPGA

“I don't know what course In Gee is playing,” Nelly Korda said after shooting 1-under par in the opening around. That was the consensus on Thursday. “She's just ...

“I put the 7-wood in the bag last week, so I didn't have a lot of time to practice with it on this course,” Chun said afterward. In a cold drizzle on a long course that got more than two inches of rain overnight, she was lucky to poke it 240 on most of the holes. The par-3 second, she hit it again and made birdie, as she did again on the fourth. “We talked a lot about the numbers and the spin. Chun ranks 117th in driving distance on the LPGA Tour. Her swing is languid, beautiful, and technically sound, but she only drives it a couple of paces north of 250 yards. When she finished, her strokes gained against the field was a staggering 12.08. I am one of the longer hitters on tour and it was long.” Well, she holed a 35-footer in the opening nine and another 20-footer on her back. But that didn’t explain such a huge disparity in her scoring against the rest of the morning wave. Her last three outings were a tie for 15th at the U.S. Women’s Open, a tie for 72nd at the Shoprite Classic and a tie for 67th last week at the Meijer LPGA Classic for Simply Give - not the kind of trendline that makes you see a course record in the offing. Nelly is one of the longest hitters on tour and she was pulling off headcovers for her approaches into par-4s. At the time she finished, Chun stood seven shots better than anyone in the field, a round that left her peers shaking their heads.

Emma Talley has a habit of banging her putter against her shoe in frustation on the course. That habit lead to an unfortunately rules situation on Thursday ...

For the remainder of the round, the former NCAA and U.S. Women’s Amateur champion used a 58-degree pitching wedge to putt, bogeying two of her final three holes to shoot a six-over 78. On the sixth green at Congressional Country Club, her 15th hole of the day, a frustrated Talley made bogey and repeated a habit of hers when she smacked her putter against her foot. At least then the unusual rules situation that transpired during the first round of the Women’s KPMG PGA Championship would have felt like a punishment that fit the crime.

South Korea's In Gee Chun has blitzed round one of the Women's LPGA Championship with a 64, seven shots clear of leading Australian Hannah Green.

Green started her round in the rain, opening with a bogey but turned for the back nine at even par. A three-time winner on the LPGA Tour and US Women's Open champion in 2015, Chun had her only stumble of the day on the par-four first with a bogey. She got on a roll starting at the par-four 15th with four consecutive birdies to make the turn at five-under 31. Chun had a relatively modest start to her round at one under through five holes after starting on the back nine. After dropping a shot at the par-four 15th, she followed up with two birdies - draining a 20-foot putt on the 17th. The two-time major winner took advantage of favourable conditions on Thursday at Bethesda, Maryland, to go eight under in a dazzling start to the third major of the year.

Two-time major champion from South Korea doesn't hit it long, but her 8-under 64 distances her from the field at Congressional Country Club.

One year earlier, Chun had won the U.S. Women’s Open by one shot over Amy Yang at Lancaster Country Club for her first victory on American soil. “I have motivation because if I keep playing golf, then I have a lot of chances to play all the good golf courses in the world,” said Chun, who needed just 25 putts and one-putted 11 holes. “She’s just on fire,” world No. 8 Brooke Henderson, who shot a 1-under 71, said of Chun. “Sometimes In Gee does that. Chun, who began her round on the back nine, wielded that club as deftly as many of her competitors did their short irons and wedges. Chun gave little indication entering this week that she was about to produce some of the most exquisite golf of her career. This is an actual threat.” Her only bogey came at the par-4 No. 1, but she followed with three consecutive birdies. This time, he’s doing it with Saudi money. The soggy conditions that yielded virtually no roll on the fairways made Chun’s performance that much more astounding. Her final birdie came at the 174-yard par-3 seventh, where again she leaned on her 7-wood to leave a midrange birdie in a round reminiscent of Rory McIlroy’s 6-under 65 for the 18-hole lead at the 2011 U.S. Open, the last major held at Congressional and the most recent professional major in the D.C. area. The carefree demeanor allowed Chun to declutter her mind, ignore recent travails and collect nine birdies for an 8-under-par 64, a record at the renovated Blue Course and the lowest score in the first round of the Women’s PGA Championship, the third major of the season. On a course that has served as the backdrop for some of golf’s most indelible moments, South Korea’s In Gee Chun, a mathematics prodigy in her youth, didn’t spend much time counting the birdies that led to her record-setting first round Thursday at the Women’s PGA Championship.

Two-time major winner In Gee Chun equalled the lowest opening round in Women's PGA Championship history and also set the new course record at Congressional ...

The winner's share also doubled to $1.35m. In Gee is just playing really well, and applause to her. Sometimes it just has to be your week, right? I'm trying to enjoy to play golf more on the course, more talk with my caddie. She then fired four more birdies over the next six holes to take a commanding first-round lead. "She must be playing really well.

BETHESDA, Md. – In Gee Chun made two critical changes ahead of the season's third major, which led to her record-tying 64 on Day 1 of the KPMG Women's PGA ...

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