THE WOODLANDS, Texas — Haeran Ryu and Yan Liu each shot bogey-free 7-under 65 to share the lead during the suspended first round of the Chevron Championship as top-ranked Nelly Korda struggled to a 77 on Thursday (Friday, April 25, 2025, PH time) in her title defense.
The round was suspended late as a storm approached The Club at Carlton Woods, with 24 players unable to finish.
Korda won the event last year for the last of her five straight LPGA Tour victories and had hoped to rediscover that dominant form in the season’s first major. Instead, she made bogeys on four straight holes and was 4-over par after six holes.
Korda added two more bogeys on the back nine and was 12 shots behind the leaders and needing a big second round simply to make the cut.
Ryu of South Korea and Liu of China had no such problems.
Ryu birdied five of her first 10 holes to move in front and made her seventh birdie on her closing hole, the ninth.
Liu got going on her back nine with four birdies in a five-hole stretch. She, too, made a closing birdie to tie Ryu.
Hya Joo Kim was a shot behind the two leaders heading to her final hole, but took bogey on the 18th to finish with a 67.
The group at 68 included Ariya Jutanugarn, Hye-Jin Choi, Carlotta Ciganda, Manon De Roey and Brooke Matthews. Lucy Li also was 4-under par through 14 when play was suspended,
Among those unable to complete the round were Lexi Thompson, who retired from full-time tour golf last year, and LPGA rookie Ingrid Lindblad of Sweden, who won last week in Los Angeles in her third start as an LPGA Tour member.
Thompson was at 1-over par with her final hole, the ninth, remaining. Lindblad was at 2-over par with her last hole, the 18th, to play. Lindblad had a triple-bogey 7 on the par-4 14th. / AP