Chun has record-tying five-shot lead at Women’s PGA

In Gee Chun is alone atop the Women’s PGA Championship at Bethesda, Maryland, 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.

PGA TOUR

Rory McIlroy fought off a sinus bug to shoot an 8-under 62 for a share of the first-round lead with J.T. Poston in the Travelers Championship at Cromwell, Connecticut. Coming off a fifth-place tie Sunday in the U.S. Open after winning the Canadian Open the previous week, the second-ranked 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. Poston had five straight birdies on Nos. 13-17 and made the turn at 6-under 29, giving rise to thoughts of Jim Furyk’s record 58 on the same TPC River Highlands course in 2016.

U.S. SENIOR OPEN

Jay Haas has been shooting his age or better for the past three years. He’s just never done on it on a stage quite like the

U.S. Senior Open at Bethleham, Pennsylvania. The 68-year-old Haas did one better. He opened with a 67 at Saucon Valley and shared the 18-hole lead with Mark Hensby. It’s the seventh time Haas has shot his age or better. Haas and Hensby have a oneshot lead over a group of four players that includes

Steve Stricker and Rocco Mediate.

EUROPEAN TOUR

Li Haotong has taken the lead with a 10-under 62 on the first day of the

BMW International Open at Munich, Germany, as the European tour continued to allow players from the breakaway Saudi-back LIV series to compete. Li finished his round with his second eagle of the day on the par-five ninth after a big approach shot left him a 4-foot putt and leads by one stroke over Daan Huizing and two over third-place