A solid trio of players have emerged with a one-stroke lead after the first round of the Blue Bay LPGA, held in China.
Ayaka Furue, A Lim Kim and Auston Kim shot -4 68 to get out front early on a day that surrendered some solid scores.
Furue bogeyed the opening hole, but found rhythm quick with birdies on 12 and 13, her third and fourth holes of the round. On her second nine, she had three birdies including on both par fives. She struck the ball consistently, which is predictable for the Japanese star. She hit 13 fairways and 16 greens for the round.
A Lim Kim, who has been the early star of the season, continued her fantastic play with a wild scorecard. Kim had four bogeys, six birdies and an eagle. On her final seven holes, she had four of those birdies plus the eagle, which came on a chip in on the par five third. Kim hit 10 fairways, 14 greens and had 28 putts.
Auston Kim was on the exact opposite end, with a completely clean scorecard and some fantastic work on the greens. Kim had four birdies and no bogeys, despite hitting just nine fairways and 12 greens. The long hitter, who was one of the top rookies on tour in 2024, is looking for her first career win.
Other notables are past champion Gaby Lopez, who shot +3 along with rookie phenom Rio Takeda and Jeeno Thitikul. Minjee Lee is also lurking, two strokes back at -2 for the round.
The second round kicks off Thursday night.
