Thailand’s Ariyah Jutanugarn leads the LPGA Kingsmill Championship by two strokes over American Christie Kerr after carding a 7-under par 64 during Thursday’s opening round.
Jutanugarn couldn’t have asked for a better start birdying six of her first seven holes before slowing down a bit on the back nine. Following a double bogey on No. 17 that dropped her to 6-under, Jutanugarn finished her day the same way she finished most holes – with a birdie – to take a round-low 64 into the clubhouse.
Kerr, on the other hand, was 1-under through nine holes, but shot 4-under on the back nine to move two shots back of Jutanugarn atop the leaderboard.
Yeon So Ryu and Dewi Claire Schreefel remain three shots off the lead at 4-under, while 14 other players will enter Friday’s second round tied at 3-under, including world No. 1 Inbee Park and top-ranked American Stacy Lewis. Twenty more finished Thursday at 2-under and 18 players sit at 1-under as nearly half of the field completed the opening round under par.
Defending tournament champion Jiyai Shin played a consistent round paring 15 of 18 holes en route to finishing at 1-under.
Click here for more on Thursday’s opening round, and here for a look at the current leaderboard as well as Friday’s tee times.
