June 29, 2018: Thursday afternoon, Sung Hyun Park surged to the top of the leaderboard with a bogey-free, 66 to take the outright lead on day one of the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship. She leads by one-stroke ahead of 2016 KPMG Women’s PGA Champion Brooke Henderson, Brittany Altomare, Jaye Marie Green and Jessica Korda.
India’s Aditi Ashok carded two-under-par 70 with four birdies and two bogies to tie for fifteenth place. She is trailing the lead by four shots off the pace at the end of first round.
Park, a three-time winner on the LPGA Tour and 2017 U.S. Women’s Open Champion, used her length to her advantage at Kemper Lakes Golf Club, which favored the Tour’s longest hitters, and playing beyond its 6,635-yard set up in round one.
“The course was pretty wet today, but I felt pretty comfortable today,” Park said through a translator. “The course is long and difficult, and I think it’s pretty big benefit for the long hitter.”
The reigning co-Player of the Year and Rookie of the Year, has struggled in recent weeks. Since her victory at the Volunteers of America LPGA Texas Classic, she missed the cut in her next three starts and finished T61 last week in Arkansas. Park hasn’t been able to get the putts to drop, so she switched putters and changed her routine. She Swapped out her TaylorMade Spider to the Black and reduced the length of the putter by an inch. The changes helped Park made it around in 27 putts on Thursday.
“I felt like something little was missing, especially my putting,” Park explained. “This week, I feel pretty comfortable and confident.”
On Friday, the temperature is supposed to rise above 95. Kemper Lakes will dry out and the pressure of playing a major championship will amp up. The stage is set; now we see who is ready to give her best performance.
LPGA Tour Release
