Chinese Taipei’s Chien Pei-yun leads, Nelly Korda lurking at Chevron Championship

HOUSTON – Chien Pei-yun of Chinese Taipei lost sleep as she prepared for the opening round of the Chevron Championship on Thursday, knowing that the tournament will be tough for her.

Little did she know that she would use a late birdie barrage to card a five-under 67 and earn the first-round lead at the first Major of the year in women’s golf in The Woodlands, Texas.

Chien, ranked No. 189 in the world entering the week, paced the field with the likes of Nelly Korda just behind at four-under 68.

The 32-year-old started her round on the back nine of the Jack Nicklaus Signature Course at The Club at Carlton Woods. She got her first two birdies to fall at Nos. 17 and 18 but hit a bump at the turn when she bogeyed the par-four first hole.

But she let that be the only blemish on her day and poured in birdies at the par-five fourth, par-four fifth, par-four sixth and par-five eighth holes.

“I saw the pin sheet last night and I can’t sleep,” Chien said.

“It feels so hard. But we’re doing very well today, just focused on what I want, what we want and which way we can miss. I think we did very well today.”

She added that a “really good wedge shot” launched her late burst at the fourth.

“I hit a six-foot putt and then the next hole I made a 30-foot birdie. The next hole I hit a nine-iron to the green, hit it to, like, six feet and made another good putt,” she said.

Chien has never won an LPGA tournament and has just six career top-10 finishes, including a tie for fourth last week at the Lotte Championship.

Meanwhile, Korda had a busy day, carding seven birdies and three bogeys. She made a long uphill birdie putt at No. 5, and after bogeying No. 6, she punctuated her round with birdies at the eighth and ninth hole.

Tied with Korda for second at four under are Marina Alex, Lilia Vu, South Korea’s Chella Choi, Japan’s Ayaka Furue and Australia’s Stephanie Kyriacou.

Korda, the world No. 2, is searching for her second Major title following her 2021 Women’s PGA Championship win.

“I took advantage of the par-fives today,” the 24-year-old said.

“I think I birdied them all, so that was important, as I’m a bit of a longer hitter. Overall, I played pretty well.”

Angel Yin is alone in eighth at three-under 69. A large tie for ninth at two-under 70 features world No. 4 Minjee Lee of Australia, world No. 5 Atthaya Thitikul of Thailand and world No. 10 Georgia Hall of England.

Thai amateur Eila Galitsky, 16, also shot a 70, posting five birdies and three bogeys. She got into the field thanks to winning the Amateur Asia-Pacific Championship in Singapore five weeks ago.

In another large group at one-under 71 are world No. 1 Lydia Ko of New Zealand, world No. 7 Brooke Henderson of Canada, 2021 tournament winner Patty Tavatanakit of Thailand and 2022 Women’s British Open winner Ashleigh Buhai of South Africa.

“I think there were more positives than I thought,” said Ko.

“I wasn’t the most confident going into today, so I think there are a lot of good things to take, and hopefully, I’m going to take the not-so-good stuff and polish it up a little bit.”

Defending champion Jennifer Kupcho settled for an even-par 72, as did world No. 3 and 2019 champion Ko Jin-young of South Korea.

Lexi Thompson, whose only Major title came at the 2014 edition of this event in California, struggled to a two-over 74 and is in danger of missing the cut.

The top 65 players plus ties will make the 36-hole cut after Friday’s round – Thompson is tied for 73rd.

The entire field finished the first round despite a dangerous-weather delay of 54 minutes during the afternoon. REUTERS, AFP