▲ Yoo Hae-ran
Yoo Hae-ran has made a solid start in her bid for back-to-back major titles, finishing near the top of the leaderboard on the first day of the Evian Championship (total prize money of $9.1 million), the fourth major tournament of the women's golf season.
On July 10, Yoo shot a 5-under 66 in the first round of the Evian Championship, held at the Evian Resort Golf Club (par 71) in Evian-les-Bains, France, carding six birdies and one bogey.
With Japan's Chisato Iwai taking the sole lead after firing an 8-under round, Yoo sits in a tie for third place, three strokes behind the leader.
Yoo captured her first major title at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship, the third major of the season, which concluded on June 29.
Having competed in 11 LPGA Tour events this year with one win and seven top-10 finishes, Yoo currently ranks second in the Player of the Year standings behind Nelly Korda (USA) and third in the CME Globe Race points behind Korda and Kim Hyo-joo. She has continued her strong form at this tournament.
Starting her round on the 10th hole, Yoo reduced her score by four strokes on the back nine, with birdies on the 12th (par 4), 14th (par 3), 16th (par 3), and 18th (par 5) holes. She continued her birdie streak on the 3rd hole (par 4).
Although she recorded her only bogey on the 8th hole (par 3), she recovered with a birdie on the final 9th hole (par 5) to finish the day on a high note.
On this day, she missed only one fairway and three greens, recording 28 putts.
"My iron shots were very good, and I didn't have any major mistakes with my putting. I had one bogey, but I think that's expected in a major tournament, and I hope for an even better day tomorrow," Yoo said.
"After winning a major, I feel more relaxed, which I think helped me have a good day today," she added. "Because the greens are undulating, I focused on aiming for the center of the green rather than attacking the pins directly, which helped me avoid many bogeys. If my long putts and shots continue to work well over the next three days, I think I can achieve a good result."
Iwai, who won one title last year in her LPGA Tour debut, took the sole lead today with eight birdies and no bogeys, while Perrine Delacour (France) sits in second place, two strokes back at 6-under 65.
Im Jin-hee tied with Yoo at 5-under to share third place, while Kang Min-ji finished the first round in a tie for 8th (4-under 67), and Chella Choi and Lee So-mi tied for 15th (3-under 68).
Kim Hyo-joo, the 2014 champion of this event and currently the highest-ranked Korean player at world No. 3, recorded four birdies and two bogeys for a 2-under 69, starting the tournament in a tie for 20th.
Yoon Ina, Kim Sei-young, and Lydia Ko (New Zealand) are also tied for 20th.
Amy Yang is tied for 35th (1-under 70), while Choi Hye-jin, Lee Mi-hyang, and Kim A-lim are tied for 58th (even par 71).
Hwang Yu-min, the leader in the Rookie of the Year points, high school amateur Yang Yun-seo, and world No. 2 Atthaya Thitikul (Thailand), who finished runner-up in a playoff at this event last year, are tied for 69th (1-over 72). Defending champion Grace Kim (Australia) is tied for 87th (2-over 73).
World No. 1 Korda, who won two of the previous three majors this year (The Chevron Championship and the U.S. Women's Open) and leads in major title categories, struggled with only two birdies against three bogeys and one double bogey, finishing in a tie for 102nd with a 3-over 74.
Yoo Hyun-jo and Seo Gyo-rim, who compete on the KLPGA Tour, also remained in a tie for 102nd.
(Photo: AP, Yonhap News)
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