Norton, Massachusetts – Alisen Corpuz remained affected person whereas rotating the wheels for many of the yr, opening the FM Championship at 7-under 65 on Thursday, sharing a one-round lead with Say Younger Kim.
Corpuz had 4 birdies on the ultimate six holes at TPC Boston and drilled a 10-foot birdie putt within the par 4 ninth to catch Kim, who performed in gentle conditions within the morning.
Nelly Korda switched his putter to extra blades and noticed him repay with 7 birdies in rounds 67 when he debuted on the TPC Boston course.
Corpuz had just one LPGA victory, nevertheless it was an enormous one – the US Ladies’s Open at Pebble Seaside two years in the past. She had prime 10 pairs at first of the yr, together with a 3rd of the Ford Championships held in Phoenix in late March. That was her final prime ten.
“I really feel golf is a really entertaining sport,” Corpos stated. “Even when that wasn’t the end result I wished to see, it feels actually, actually shut all through the season. It is a good begin to the season and it seems like issues are starting to show the nook a bit.”
Kim performed within the morning when the climate acquired just a little cooler and he or she puzzled if the course would play longer because the golf ball wasn’t flying that a lot. Nonetheless, she birded three of the par 5s till she wanted to calm her down in a closed gap with a big groove in entrance of the inexperienced and a big groove in entrance of the massive stars round it.
That is what made Thailand’s Jeeno Thitikul triple within the second week after returning to primary on the earth girls’s rankings. She blows up the tee that shot in the correct aspect, however her strategy on the par 5 misses her left and goes down that steep slope. Her first pitch was shortened and returned to her legs, and Tai took the bogey for the 69.
Two tales are performed all yr spherical on the LPGA – 22 consecutive tournaments begin the yr with totally different winners in every, and Korda has not gained any of them. Korda has been out of seven wins in 2024 and misplaced his No. 1 rating to Thitikul simply two weeks in the past.
Her 67 left her within the third tied participant logjam, together with feminine PGA champions Minzy Lee, Celine Beautyer, Andrea Lee, Gooleen Cowl and LPGA rookie who needed to go Monday’s qualifying.
Korda stated she did not know what she would consider putters at dwelling, because the course in Florida, the place she lives, wasn’t at its greatest within the scorching summer season. However she took it to Canada and cherished the way it felt and put it in her bag. This is identical mannequin because the one she used final yr.
“It is simply one thing new,” Korda stated. “I knew I used to be very profitable with such putters and felt assured in it. I needed to really feel one thing totally different.”
