Grace Kim, the 24-year-old from Australia, is back in contention at The Meijer LPGA Classic after falling in a playoff in this event in 2024. She sits one stroke back from leader Mi Hyang Lee.
Kim had most of the action in this round happen in the middle stages, where she made birdies on 7, 8, 11, 12 and 14, with an eagle on 10 and a bogey on 13. She also had an early birdie on the par 4 third hole, resulting in a score of -7 65.
Kim hit eight fairways and 12 greens, but needed only 23 putts to get through the round in the Grand Rapids area. She is also joined by three other Australians, Karis Davidson, Minjee Lee and Cassie Porter, in the top 10 as things currently stand.
Kim is looking for her second-career win at the Meijer, she previously won the 2023 Lotte Championship held in Hawaii.
The leader at the moment is Mi Hyang Lee, a 32-year-old from Korea who is looking for her third win on the LPGA Tour, but her first since 2017. Lee had a clean scorecard Thursday, making six birdies, one eagle and not surrendering a shot. Most of this was thanks to her consistent ball striking that saw her hit 11 fairways and 16 greens.
The first round is in progress, with young Japanese star Akie Iwai making up ground on the leaders, she is at -6.
