Lee Jeong-eun6 finishes round 1 as frontrunner in season’s final championship

Lee Jeong-eun6 (25) nicknamed Hot Six emerged as the frontrunner in the first round of this season’s final championship in the US LPGA Tour.

Lee had eight birdies with no bogey in the CME Group Tour Championship, the final event of this season’s LPGA Tour, which took place at Tiburon Golf Club (par 72) in Naples, Florida on Friday, finishing the first round with eight-under 64. She is thus one stroke ahead of the runner-ups including Kim Se-young (28).

She birdied in three consecutive holes from Hole 16 to 18 to demonstrate her superb concentration in the final holes. She is now aiming to secure her second career title in the LPGA Tour since winning the US Open Championship in May 2019.

Her best performance this season was the runner-up at the Amundi Evian Championship in July. “My goal was to play the game without having any bogey. My goal is to secure a title this year, and there is only one championship left. I will try my best,” Lee said in renewing her commitment to win. As she has become comfortable with backswing, which she has been correcting recently, she is able to display more aggressive and more high-precision play than before. The title has the total prize money of 1.5 million U.S. dollars at stake, the biggest amount for a women’s championship ever.

Ko Jin-young (26), who is ranked No. 2 in the world, had two bogeys and five birdies to tie for 25th to finish the first round with 3-under 69. Nelly Korda (23) who is competing with Ko for the Rolex Player of the Year award, is three strokes ahead of Ko to tie for sixth.


Hong-Gu Kang windup@donga.com