Promising young golfers Yang Yun-seo and Kim Gyu-bin finished tied for seventh place in the opening round of the women's golf competition at the 2026 Aichi-Nagoya Asian Games.

Playing at the East Course of the Kasugai Country Club in Aichi Prefecture, Japan, today (the 30th), Yang carded a 2-under-par 68, featuring four birdies and a double bogey.

Kim matched the score with four birdies and two bogeys.

Sitting five strokes behind the leader, Shannon Tan of Singapore, both players remain well within striking distance for a comeback victory in the remaining rounds.

Starting on the par-4 10th hole, Yang had a smooth start with back-to-back birdies on the par-3 12th and par-5 13th holes. However, she failed to add any more birdies on the remaining front-nine holes and slipped down the leaderboard after taking a double bogey on the par-4 1st hole.

Refusing to lose focus, Yang bounced back with a birdie on the par-4 3rd hole and added another on the par-5 8th hole to break into the upper tier of the leaderboard.

Kim, who also teed off on the par-4 10th hole, bogeyed the par-3 15th before recovering with a birdie on the par-4 16th. Another bogey on the par-4 18th left her at 1-over through the front nine.

In the back nine, Kim trimmed three shots with three birdies, including consecutive gains on the par-3 4th and par-4 5th holes, followed by a final birdie on the par-5 8th hole, successfully cracking the top 10.

Park Seo-jin, competing alongside them, had a somewhat fluctuating round with four birdies, three bogeys, and a double bogey, finishing 1-over 71 to tie for 18th place.

Pranavi Sharath Urs of India sits in second place at 4-under 66.

China's Yin Ruoning, ranked world No. 6 with six career LPGA Tour victories, and Thailand's Arpichaya Yubol, who has secured three runner-up finishes across 16 LPGA events this year, tied for third place at 3-under 67 alongside Chinese Taipei's Hsu Wei-ling and the Philippines' Bianca Isabel Pagdangananan.

Former world No. 1 Tseng Ya-ni of Chinese Taipei finished tied for 18th at 1-over 71.

A total of 43 players are competing in the women's golf event, with individual and team medals decided by the combined scores over four rounds.

Combining the scores of its two best-performing players, Yang and Kim, South Korea posted a total of 4-under 136, tying with China, Chinese Taipei, and Thailand for second place in the team standings behind Singapore, which leads at 8-under 132.

The second round will be held tomorrow (October 1) starting at 6:30 a.m.

(Photo: Yonhap News)