Two 61s at the top
Two bogey-free 61s share the lead after the first round of The Annika at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida.
Hye-Jin Choi signed for a career-low round while playing alongside Nelly Korda. Minami Katsu matched her from the afternoon wave with her lowest score of the season. Katsu has history on this course, having tied for seventh here in 2023.
Choi arrives in form. She led after day one at the Buick LPGA Shanghai in October before a 74 in round two dropped her back, and she finished runner-up. At the BMW Ladies Championship she went 66-66 to get into contention and closed with a 69 to share second again. Two near misses in a row, and now another fast start.
“I really kept on the greens, so I made a bogey-free round,” Choi said, adding that missing greens at Pelican makes par saves hard to come by.
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Korda sharp after eight weeks off
World No 1 Nelly Korda sits two shots back after a bogey-free 63 in her first start for eight weeks. She missed one fairway and one green all day. Korda has already won three times at Pelican, and she needs one more point to qualify for the LPGA Tour Hall of Fame.
Korda said the hardest part of coming back was learning to trust herself again, and that it felt good to have the competitive nerves back while playing alongside Choi.
Lindy Duncan is alone in third on 62 after a start she will not forget: birdie, birdie, then a hole-in-one with a 6-iron at the par-three third. Allisen Corpuz aced the same hole earlier in the day, also with a 6-iron, from 163 yards.
Last chance for a CME spot
This is the final event of the regular season. Only the top 60 in the Race to the CME Globe standings after Sunday will tee it up at next week’s CME Group Tour Championship and its $11 million purse. Duncan started the week at No 74.
Ina Yoon, Nicole Broch Estrup, Julia Lopez Ramirez and Jing Yan are three back on 64. Defending champion Linn Grant, who made changes to her putting before the event, bogeyed three of her first five holes and recovered to a 68.
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