Hyo Joo Kim of South Korea finished her round birdie-eagle to post a 9-under-par 63 and take the first-round lead at the Fortinet Founders Cup on Thursday in Menlo Park, Calif.
Kim, a seven-time winner on the LPGA Tour and the 2015 Founders Cup champion, was bogey-free on her first trip around Sharon Heights Golf & Country Club, which is hosting for the first time.
“I am just so satisfied I had no bogeys. I had some mistakes in the beginning, but I was able to save them,” Kim said. “I ended with an eagle, so I ended pretty happily.”
Kim, 30, holed out for eagle at the par-5 18th hole.
“I couldn’t see the hole from where I was,” Kim said, “but people started cheering and then I heard a ‘Yeah!’ so I figured it went in.”
Two strokes off the pace is fellow South Korea native Dongeun Lee, a 21-year-old making just her second LPGA start.
Lee’s round of 65 also concluded with an eagle at No. 18, after five of her seven birdies came on the front nine.
“The line was quite long but I had the line in it so I just first wanted to approach it first, but it went in,” Lee said. “So good.”
Germany’s Polly Mack and South Korea’s Jin Hee Im are tied for third at 6-under 66.
Mack overcame a double-bogey 7 at No. 10 with eight total birdies.
“It’s funny, I have my mental coach here this week and it’s great to just really see that work coming in play right there,” Mack said. “I think I did pretty good at just doing my post-shot routine and basically letting that bounce off right there and move on and just not let it affect me too much.”
A knot at 4-under 68 included major winners Minjee Lee of Australia and Mao Saigo of Japan. Scotland’s Gemma Dryburgh was still on the course as play wound down late Thursday afternoon, 4 under par through 15 holes.
World No. 2 Nelly Korda opened with a 2-under 70 and World No. 1 Jeeno Thitikul of Thailand settled for an even-par 72. Young star Rose Zhang, who won the 2024 Founders Cup, shot a 1-under 71 to begin just her second start of the season.
A California native, Zhang is preparing to graduate Stanford this spring and was glad for this week’s tour stop in Northern California. She said she finished her final paper earlier this week.
“It is crazy. I honestly feel like it’s a little bit anticlimactic because I’m playing golf,” Zhang said. “I haven’t been doing as much of celebrating, but internally I do feel really good about it.”
