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The LPGA returned to motion in Thailand after a three-week break and Peiyun Chien lit up Siam Nation Membership Outdated Course with a career-tying 8-under 64. The 33-year-old Taiwanese participant poured in seven birdies and an eagle to take management.
“I just like the course as a result of I simply really feel the inexperienced is analogous in Taiwan, so I learn higher,” stated Chien, who wanted solely 24 putts within the first spherical of the 2024 Honda LPGA Thailand.
There are 11 Thai gamers within the area of 72, together with final week’s winner on the Girls European Tour, Patty Tavatanakit. The no-cut occasion contains a purse of $1.7 million, with $255,000 going to the winner.
Listed below are 5 takeaways from a steamy begin to the Asian swing:
Tavatanakit holed out from a bunker on the par-3 sixteenth to kickstart a string of three birdies to shut out a spherical of 5-under 67. The Thai participant received by seven final week on the Aramco Saudi Girls Worldwide, claiming her first victory in three years since she jumped into Poppie’s Pond at what’s now the Chevron Championship.
“I really feel prefer it humbled me down rather a lot these previous couple years,” stated Tavatanakit of the drought, “and if it weren’t for these occasions, I wouldn’t be standing proper right here proper now. I’m grateful for each second of it.”
Confirmed out in her house nation 🇹🇭💪@Patty_MPT | @hondalpgath pic.twitter.com/d5opXTv6en
— LPGA (@LPGA) February 22, 2024
Brooke Henderson of Canada tees off throughout the first day of the 2024 Honda LPGA Thailand golf event on the Siam Nation Membership in Pattaya on February 22, 2024. (Picture by Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP)
Brooke Henderson’s opening 67 marks her fifth sub-70 spherical of 2024. Over the course of the previous 5 seasons, solely Lydia Ko has posted extra rounds within the 60s.
Listed below are the tour leaders for many rounds within the 60s in that span:
Lydia Ko – 135Brooke Henderson – 134Xiyu Lin – 131Nasa Hataoka – 124Nelly Korda – 121
Lilia Vu of United State kisses the trophy on the 18th inexperienced after successful the 2023 Honda LPGA Thailand at Siam Nation Membership on February 26, 2023 in Chon Buri, Thailand. (Picture by Thananuwat Srirasant/Getty Photographs)
Final yr, Lilia Vu kickstarted a career-changing season with a victory in Thailand. The previous UCLA standout turned the fourth American to win 4 occasions in the identical season since 2000. Juli Inkster was the final American participant to win 5 occasions in 1999.
Vu is joined by Nelly Korda (2021), Stacy Lewis (2012) and Paula Creamer (2008).
Natthakritta Vongtaveelap of Thailand performs a shot throughout the first spherical of the Honda LPGA Thailand at Siam Nation Membership on February 22, 2024 in Chon Buri, Thailand. (Picture by Thananuwat Srirasant/Getty Photographs)
Bangkok’s Natthakritta Vongtaveelap completed second final yr on house soil as a rookie and returns to motion after taking a medical go away for a tear in her left knee.
This marks Vongtaveelap’s first begin since she was disqualified from the U.S. Girls’s Open at Pebble Seaside final July after her caddie, Jinsup Kim, used a distance-measuring machine on a number of holes.
Vongtaveelap, enjoying on a sponsor exemption, opened with a 5-under 67 to take a share of third and co-lead the Thai contingent with Tavatanakit.
Ko Jin-young of South Korea tees off throughout the first day of the 2024 Honda LPGA Thailand golf event on the Siam Nation Membership in Pattaya on February 22, 2024. (Picture by Lillian Suwanrumpha/AFP)
Jin Younger Ko sometimes has no downside beginning robust. Along with successful her first begin in 2022 on the HSBC Girls’s World Championship, she completed fourth at her first begin in 2021 (Gainbridge LPGA) and sixth in Thailand final yr.
Ko, who stated her aim this yr is to maintain that power up all through the season, opened with a 4-under 68 in Thailand to take a share of eleventh. It’s her first aggressive spherical since withdrawing from the CME Group Tour Championship in Naples, Florida, previous to the third spherical with a bum knee.
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