Eagles for first-day leaders Hsu, Lewis
Wei-Ling Hsu holed out a 7-iron for an eagle on the first hole she played, setting the tone for a terrific start.
The unheralded golfer from Taiwan finished the day tied atop the leaderboard with one of the LPGA Tour’s most successful players.
Hsu shot a 7-under 65 on Thursday and shared the lead with Stacy Lewis after the first round of the LPGA Volvik Championship. Hsu eagled two of her first five holes and was 6-under after six. She and Lewis finished a stroke ahead of 18-year-old Nelly Korda.
Hsu has only one top-10 finish on the LPGA Tour, and that came in her rookie year of 2015. She finished tied for 43rd last week in the Kingsmill Championship after missing the cut in the previous four events.
Lewis, meanwhile, is a former world No. 1 with 11 LPGA victories — although she’s winless in 72 events since June 2014. She has 12 second-place finishes since her last win.
Lewis birdied three of her first four holes and reached 15 greens in regulation on the 6,734-yard course at Travis Pointe Country Club. She eagled the par-five 14th and capped her round with a small fist pump after a birdie on 18.
“I looked up at the leaderboard and saw I was tied for the lead, so I kind of just wanted to get out there ahead,” Lewis said. “It’s always nice to see yourself atop the leaderboard.”
Brooke Henderson of Smiths Falls, Ont., carded a 1-under 71, while Maude-Aimee Leblanc of Sherbrooke, Que., was at 1-over 73, Jennifer Ha of Calgary sat at 4-over 76 and Hamilton’s Alena Sharp fired a 5-over 77. Hsu began her round on No. 10, and she holed out from 155 yards away for an eagle on the 394-yard par 4.
“My caddy just tells me, ‘Oh, you got it in. You got eagle,’” Hsu said
Korda, a rookie who has joined sister Jessica on the tour, hit only eight of 14 fairways, but went on a birdie run on the back nine.
“It was a slow start and I saved a couple of long par putts,” Korda said.