Ko three off pace as Choi back in swing

Kiwi Lydia Ko shot a 5-under 67 to be three strokes off leader Celine Boutier at the Founders Cup in Phoenix.

Ko finished the first round in a tie for 12th along with Brooke Henderson who also shot 67.

Na Yeon Choi feared the worst in her return from a back injury. She ended up high on the leaderboard after shooting a 7-under 65 at Desert Ridge in her first tournament round in 11 months.

“Golf is really funny game. I didn’t expect any good score today because this is first day,” said Choi, the 2012 US Women’s Open champion and ninetime tour winner. “I practice hard, of course, but it’s hard to tell how I’m going to shoot. Less expectation, I think, always give you better result.”

Close friend Jenny Shin waited for Choi to finish and threw a cup of Champagne on her in celebration.

“I’m just happy be on the fairway and walking with friends,” Choi said.

The 31-year-old South Korean tried to play through the back problem before finally shutting it down last April, taking the advice of friends and former tour stars Beth Daniel and Meg Mallon.

“I just kept playing golf and my swing got worse and worse and hitting my ball going left and right,” Choi said.

“My mentally is like totally broken, so I just need my body get ready first.”

She took a two-week European holiday to help clear her mind. “I didn’t think about golf.”

When she got the golf bug again, she took it slow and relaxed.

“I try to drink some beer and get a little tipsy and playing golf,” Choi said.

Boutier closed her late round with a 4-foot birdie putt on the par-4 ninth. The Frenchwoman won the Victoria Open last month in Australia for her first LPGA Tour title. “It’s definitely made me more confident in my game, my ability to win out here,” Boutier said. “I feel like I was kind of lacking that confidence last year.”