LPGA HanaBank: 1st Round Pacesetters
There’s a crowd at the top of the leaderboard at the LPGA KEB-HanaBank Championship. Australian Katherine Hull-Kirk, Koreans Amy Yang and KLPGA Tour player Ju Young Pak and Swede Anna Nordqvist have set the pace for the tournament. They all carded 1st round scores of 67, 5 strokes under par, and take a 1-stroke lead over Swede Caroline Hedwall going into Saturday’s second-round.
Defending champion, Norwegian Suzann Pettersen, is trailing the leading quartet by 2 strokes and hometown favorite, Rolex Ranked #1 Inbee Park, shot a 1st round score of 70 and is 3 strokes off the lead. As expected, a cheering crowd greeted Inbee Park, who is playing in her 1st Korean tournament since claiming the top spot in the Rolex Rankings. There were no complaints about the crowd noise.
It’s been a four year winless drought for Rolex Ranked #24 Anna Nordqvist, who last made her way to the winner’s circle at the 2009 LPGA Tour Championship Presented by Rolex. But Nordqvist, ranked 24th by Rolex, may be finding a winning game in her bag during the LPGA Asia loop. She finished the Reignwood LPGA Classic and the Sime Darby LPGA Malaysia in a tie for 15th and at the HanaBank she recorded 6 birdies and 1 bogey in the opening round.
"I gave myself a lot of good opportunities and hit quite a few close. I think I still had three or four lip‑outs and still shot 5‑under. I’m very happy with the day and I felt good out there.Anna Nordqvist, 1st Round HanaBank Co-Leader"
Nordqvist, who shot the only Ace in Solheim Cup history last August and who played a strong, aggressive match against American Stacy Lewis at the Solheim, has put that game to good use and inched her way closer to hoisting the trophy on Sunday.
Katherine Hull-Kirk has also been without a win for some time. Ranked 93rd by Rolex, Hull-Kirk’s last win came at the 2010 Navistar LPGA Classic. Hull-Kirk finished the Reignwood in a tie for 37th and the Sime Darby in a tie for 32nd.
The Aussie came off the tees hot and wasted little time moving into the red numbers after reeling off three birdies in her first three holes. Momentum continued to swing Hull-Kirk’s way during the remaining opening 9-holes as she made the turn at 5-under needing only 11 putts.
“This is definitely one of best golf courses we play all year,” said Hull-Kirk. “It’s always in perfect condition. The bunkers are great and I really love the greens here because they are so true and they roll probably on the faster scale for us.”
Rolex Ranked 27th, Amy Yang started a bit slower than Hull-Kirk, but got her rhythm going and reeled off five consecutive birdies on holes four through eight. Yang comes into the HanaBank a little hotter than Nordqvist and Hull-Kirk. She finished the Reignwood in a tie for 10th and took a solo 5th place at the Sime Darby last weekend.
KLPGA Tour member Je Young Pak rounds out the quartet at the top of the leaderboard. The younger sister of LPGA Tour standout Hee Young Park, turned to her sister to show the ropes of this week’s event.
"When I was walking around the official golf course with my sister, she gave a lot of lessons and also how to address the certain play . . .That was a big help.Ju Young Pak, 1st Round HanaBank Co-Leader"
Peking Duck and Korean BBQ
Shanshan Feng and her family hosted dinner at a Bejing restaurant famous for its Peking Duck during the Reignwood, and Chella Choi and her caddie-dad did the same in Incheon. The menu was Korean BBQ and, of course, Korean beer. Hull-Kirk was a part of the party that “ate bulgogi and Gal‑bi and then we tried some soju and some beer. We just had a great time and it was nice to hang out with [Choi] away from the golf course. Certainly we enjoyed the Korean hospitality.”
Let’s see how the Korean BBQ works on the fluid and crowded leaderboard on Saturday. I’ll be back tomorrow to talk about who’s up and who’s down and Golf Channel will also cover the daily round at the HanaBank, 11am-pm ET.