Woodlands, Texas – Harlan Liu and Yang Liu each shot a bogey-free 7-under 65 and shared the lead in the suspended first round of the Chevron Championship, with top-ranked Nelly Korda struggling to 77 on Thursday on title defense.
The round was stopped late as the storm approached the Carlton Woods club, and 24 players were unable to finish.
Korda won the final event of five straight LPGA Tour victory last year, hoping to rediscover its dominant form in the first major of the season. Instead, she made a bogey with four straight holes, 4 over after six holes.
Korda added two more bogeys to the back nine, with 12 shots behind the leader, and needed a big second round just to make a cut.
There was no such problem with South Korea’s Ryu and China’s Ryu.
Ryu moved forward five of the first 10 holes, then birdie ninth, the ninth birdie.
Liu has nine backs with four birdies on five holes stretch. She also made a closed birdie to tie Ryu.
Hea Joo Kim was the shot behind the two leaders heading to the final hole, but he took a bogey on the 18th and finished with 67.
The 68 groups included Ariya Jutanugarn, Hee-Jin Choi, Carlotta Ciganda, Manon de Roey and Brooke Matthews. Lucy Lee was also 4 under par at 14 when play was interrupted,
Among those who failed to complete the round were Leksetompson, who retired from full-time tour golf last year, and Swedish LPGA rookie Ingrid Lindblad, who won Los Angeles last week in his third start as an LPGA Tour member.
Thompson remained in the ninth last hole and one inning etc. Lindblad got two overs with the final hole in the 18th. Lindblad had a triple bogey 7 on the 14th of the PAR-4.
Ryu loved how he felt and continued his Texas with two LPGA Tour victories and changed putters midway through last week’s tournament in Los Angeles.
Ryu said she was more comfortable on the green. She often opened her face with her previous putters, Ryu explained, and was pleased to make some tricky putts in her round. “That’s really good for me,” she said.
Liu was unhappy with his performance from the T-shirt last week in Los Angeles, seeking his first victory on the LPGA Tour and worked to fix it. “I fixed the driver this week so I feel it’s very solid,” she said.
Although it wasn’t solid for Korda, who started the season with a top-10 finish, he won seven events a year ago, and was the Rolex Player of the Year.
When Korda walked from the 18th green following her round, she told the small group of media she returned to work.
“I’m going to go and practice and see where I’m taking you,” she said.
Korda is looking for her third career major.