Auston Kim, the long-hitting third year player from Florida, leads at the end of the first round of the HSBC Women’s World Championship in Singapore.
Kim is off to a much improved start at this event, where she struggled heavily early in 2025. Her opening round score improved by 12 shots from a 78 down to a 66.
Kim’s first nine was solid if unremarkable, making two birdies on the par 5s but not dropping any shots. The second nine is where it got a bit more interesting. Kim made birdies on her first two holes after making the turn, before her first bogey of the day on her 12 hole. She recovered well though, making three birdies in the last four holes.
It shouldn’t be much of a surprise that Kim was fantastic on the par 5s, going three under on those holes for the day. She was ninth in par 5 scoring average on Tour in 2025 despite being outside the top 40 on par 4s and par 3s. Much of that is thanks to ranking third on the Tour in driving distance.
Kim is still looking for her first victory on Tour, certainly qualifying as one of the best players in the world without an LPGA Tour win. It would be a great time to get in the winner’s circle too with the Solheim Cup approaching this Summer, an event that Kim is certainly in contention to qualify for.
Trailing Kim is China’s Yan Liu, who is sitting one stroke back at -5. A large group of players are at -4, Mimi Rhodes, Lindy Duncan, Haeran Ryu, Miyu Yamashita and Linn Grant.
