Chun shoots 8-under 64, ties women’s major mark
In Gee Chun is alone atop the Women’s PGA Championship following a sensational start.
In fact, no player has ever been further ahead after 18 holes at a women’s major.
Chun breezed to an 8-under 64 on Thursday to take a five-stroke advantage after the first round at Congressional. While most of the field slogged through the day on the wet Blue Course, Chun birdied seven of eight holes during one stretch. She was seven shots ahead when she finished her round and ended up tying a record for the largest 18-hole lead at a major.
Mickey Wright led this tournament by five after the first round in 1961.
“I don’t know what golf course In Gee is playing,” defending champion Nelly Korda said after finishing her round of 71.
Chun was playing the same course as everyone else — one that went through a full restoration last year. There was heavy rain in the area overnight and more precipitation during play Thursday morning. That softened the course but also made Congressional’s length — 6,809 yards for this first round — more of a factor.
No big deal for Chun, a two-time major winner.
“The course, after a lot of rain, feels longer,” the 27-year-old South Korean said. “At the same time, greens were softer. So I think it was just a balance.”
Pornanong Phatlum and Hye-Jin Choi shot bogey-free rounds of 69 to cut Chun’s lead to five, but that was still a big enough advantage to tie Wright’s mark. The 1961 tournament was one of a record four victories by Wright at this event. Chun is trying for her first.
McIlroy, Poston lead Travelers
Rory McIlroy fought off a sinus bug to shoot an 8-under 62 on Thursday for a share of the firstround lead with J.T. Poston in the Travelers Championship.
Coming off a fifth-place tie Sunday in the U.S. Open after winning the Canadian Open the previous week, the secondranked McIlroy had a bogey-free morning round — highlighted by a 47-foot birdie putt on the par-4 seventh.
McIlroy matched the lowest opening round of his PGA Tour career. He finished with a tap-in birdie on the ninth hole after a 332-yard drive and 44-foot chip just past the pin.
Two tied atop U.S. Senior Open
Jay Haas has been shooting his age or better for the last three years, just never on a stage quite like the U.S. Senior Open in Bethlehem, Pa.
Haas steadied himself from an up-and-down start at soggy Saucon Valley and played much younger than his 68 years down the stretch, posting a 4-under 67 to share the lead with Mark Hensby after the opening round.
Li in front at BMW after 62
Li Haotong shot 10under 62 to lead after the first round of the BMW International Open in Munich as the European tour continued to allow players from the breakaway Saudi-backed LIV series to compete.