Epson Tour graduate Yan Liu and two-time LPGA Tour winner Haeran Ryu are tied at the top after Thursday play was suspended due to inclement weather at The Chevron Championship.
Both players carded seven-under 65s to kick off their weeks in The Woodlands, Texas, and are sitting two shots ahead of 2025 winner Hyo Joo Kim, who is alone in third after posting a 5-under 67.
Liu went bogey-free on day one at The Club at Carlton Woods, picking up a pair of birdies in her first three holes on the par-4 10th and par-3 12th holes to climb to 2-under quickly. She then stalled a bit, parring her next six holes in a row to turn in 34, but Liu finally broke through again on her closing nine, grabbing a birdie on the par-4 1st hole to move to 3-under.
She then rattled off three consecutive birdies on the third, fourth and fifth holes to get to 6-under on the day before landing one last birdie on the par-4 9th hole to finish with a 65 and tie her second-lowest career round on the LPGA Tour. She just recently posted her career-best score of 63 last week at the JM Eagle LA Championship presented by Plastpro, a first-round effort that gave Liu her first lead of any kind on the LPGA Tour after 18 holes at El Caballero Country Club.
“Today my driver is pretty good, pretty solid,” said Liu. “Last week, I do pretty good, too, but not the driver. This week, I fixed my driver so, it’s feel very solid golf today. On the course, I’m pretty confident today. I just feel the weather is so good and temperature is perfect for me.”
Ryu also went bogey-free and carded seven total birdies on Thursday, two sets of which came back-to-back on holes two, three, seven and eight. The 2023 Louise Suggs Rolex Rookie of the Year additionally made birdies on the par-4 10th, par-5 13th and par-5 18th holes at The Club at Carlton Woods to post her lowest score on Tour since she shot 64 on day three of The ANNIKA driven by Gainbridge at Pelican last November.
This is Ryu’s third time competing in The Chevron Championship, and after tying for 56th in her tournament debut, the Republic of Korea native finished solo fifth last year, a performance she is well on her way to improving upon in 2025 after taking a share of the early lead in the Lone Star State.
“Last year, I had great memory for this golf course, so I just want to do more easier and more calm and more comfortable for my golf,” Ryu said. “Today, my putter is pretty good, and I just want to try to and trust in my golf. That was amazing today because I change the putter last (week’s) second round and more comfortable for my putting this week. It was amazing.”
Major champion Kim rounds out the top three, and there are six players tied for fourth, including Epson Tour winner Lucy Li, who still needs to finish her first round. Among the group of athletes who fired 68s on day one are LPGA Tour winners Carlota Ciganda and Ariya Jutanugarn, the latter of whom is a two-time major champion. They were joined by Korean Hye-Jin Choi, Belgium’s Manon De Roey and Epson Tour graduate Brooke Matthews.
Six players are tied for 10th and sitting at 3-under at the moment, most notably major winners Georgia Hall and In Gee Chun, the latter of whom still needs to complete round one on Friday morning. Current Rolex Women’s World Golf Rankings No. 1 Nelly Korda opened her title defense with a 5-over 77.
Leona Maguire was four-over-par through seventeen holes of round one.
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