Lexi Thompson grabs first round lead at Sahalee with 4-under 68

SAMMAMISH, Wash. - Fresh off a playoff loss to Llila Vu last week at the Meijer LPGA Classic, Lexi Thompson surged to the top of the leaderboard with a 4-under par 68 at the KPMG Women's PGA Championship on Thursday.

Thompson birdied her first three holes of the day en route to a bogey-free 4-under par front nine. She bounced back from a bogey on the par-4 10th hole with birdies on the 13th and 15th to briefly push two shots clear of the pack. However, Thompson was unable to get up-and-down from the right-front bunker on the 16th and made a bogey to ultimately hold just a one-shot lead.

"I probably got pretty lucky on my first – not the first hole, but 2 and 3," Thompson said. "Hit it in the rough and ended up getting some pretty decent shots out of the rough and gave myself some birdie opportunities. 

"But just tried to stay in the moment out there and really visualize my shots and pick small targets and just commit to it. You know there is going to be shots that hit a tree and like you have to punch out, try to give yourself a par save. Take your bogey and go to the next hole and keep on playing aggressively. I had a good start, so just tried to keep rolling with be confident with that."

Thompson led the field in strokes gained approaching the green during the opening round. All four birdies on the front nine came with approach shots to inside seven feet.

"My approach shots felt great," Thompson said. "They felt really good last week, so just trying to simplify things and get in a rhythm with my swing."

It's been five years since Thompson's last victory on the LPGA Tour. Despite 15 worldwide victories and 11 on the LPGA Tour, Thompson has just one major victory, which came at the ANA Inspiration (now Chevron Championship) in 2014. She has 12 additional top five finishes in majors, which include a trio of crushing runner-up finishes that featured either late collapses (2019 U.S. Women's Open, 2022 KPMG Women's PGA Championship), or a run-in with the rules that causes two two-stroke penalties (2017 ANA Inspiration). 

Thompson, 29, announced at the U.S. Women's Open last month that this will be her last full season playing on the LPGA Tour. Thompson became the youngest player to ever qualify for the U.S. Women's Open as a 12-year-old in 2007 and has played in the event 18 times at just 29 years old. She turned professional at 15 years old in 2010 and has spent 14 years on tour.

"I'm just taking it one day at a time," Thompson said when asked if a big win would make her reconsider. "I made my announcement. I'm very content with it. Golf is a crazy game, so I'm not going to look too far ahead. Just taking it one day at a time and see where it takes me."

World No. 1 Nelly Korda and Patty Tavatanakit each posted rounds of 3-under par 69 to sit a shot off Thompson's lead. 

Korda held the solo lead in the clubhouse after the morning wave wrapped up their rounds. Meanwhile, Tavatanakit posted the only bogey-free round from the field on Thursday to find herself a shot off the lead.

Korda carded six birdies during her opening round with a bogey and a double bogey serving as the only blemishes on her initial trip around the course.

"Overall, played pretty well," Korda said. "I think I just had one bogey and one double, which you kind of – if you try to be aggressive when you've hit it off-line, it just bites you in the butt. So I did on that hole. Overall, I think I played pretty well. I took my chances where I could and I played safe for the majority of the round."

Korda opened with a birdie on her first hole of the day – the par-4 10th – and had a string of three straight birdies to move to the top of the leaderboard. A fifth birdie on the par-4 3rd hole gave Korda the lead at 4-under par before her one big blunder of the round.

After driving the ball into the left tree on the par-4 4th hole, Korda successfully pitched out to about 25 yards short of the green, and 49 yards short of the back-left hole location. However, Korda's pitch didn't clear the ridge in the middle of the green and left her 50 feet to the hole. After lagging her par effort up to three feet, Korda missed the bogey try to drop a pair of shots.

"This entire golf course is so demanding," Korda said. "I had to make some pretty good up and downs as well. Where you're hitting – you have to chip it out because you can't get it on to the green. You have overhanging trees. You chip it out well and have probably 30, 40 yards to the green, and you just have to make that up and down.

"I pitched it out to about 50 yards, and it's just such a slow green. That whole green is in the shade. … When these greens are in the shade the majority of the day they're really soft compared to the ones that are in the sun, have sun exposure and release a little bit more and get a little firmer. Just misjudged it."

Korda bounced back and capped her round with a birdie on the 181-yard par 3 9th hole, draining a 15-foot putt to take the solo lead from seven players tied at 2-under after the morning wave.

"Any single time I can shoot under par in a major I think that's a positive," Korda said. "Hopefully that will just give me good momentum going into the next few days."

Korda was also enthused by the presence of her sister, Jessica, and her new baby, Greyson, on the grounds on Thursday as well. Jessica – who played in the 2016 KPMG Women's PGA Championship – is currently on maternity leave from the tour after giving birth in February.

"It's so nice to have them out here. I haven't seen her in a while. She came out early to support me on the first day, and I can't be more thankful," Korda said.

Tavatanakit won in back-to-back weeks early this season, claiming the Aramco Saudi Ladies Invitational on the Ladies European Tour, and then the Honda LPGA Thailand in her home country the following week. After a challenging 2023 season that saw only three top 20 finishes all year, it was a big step back in the right direction.

"Ever since the Saudi win, to be able to get that off was like a huge relief almost," Tavatanakit said. "And then to do it the week after in my home country was very special. I didn't think I could do that."

Tavatanakit was third-best in the field in strokes gained off the tee and used that success with the driver to carry her to the front page of the leaderboard.

"I just played really freely today. Felt like my swings were committed and confident, so I think that's just helped," Tavatanakit said. "… If you hit it straight and far it is an advantage at any given course, so that has been something I've worked really hard over like couple years now, so it's good to see that it's paying off."

Tavatanakit called Seattle her favorite city in the country and said she spent a vacation in the area three years ago over the winter. The good vibes of being in a setting she thoroughly enjoys helped fuel some strong play as well.

"I'm having fun. I'm at my favorite city in the country. I feel like I'm just not trying to force anything, and just I really had a lot of fun today regardless of if I hit a bad shot or a good shot," she said. "It's just so pretty and I just get to enjoy this course; walking on this course just makes me happy already."

Eleven players are tied for fourth, two shots back of Thompson.

2023 U.S. Open champion Allisen Corpuz, 2023 Evian Championship winner Celine Boutier, and European Solheim Cup team stalwarts Leona Maguire and Charley Hull all posted rounds of 70 in the morning wave.

Hull dealt with some drama earlier this week as her golf clubs didn't arrive with her in Seattle after her flight from London on Monday night.

"Tuesday I was bored because even my gym shoes was in my golf bag," Hull said. "I couldn't really go to the gym. I had to run in my other, like, normal shoes. I just waited at the airport for my clubs. They didn't know where they was, whether they was on the flight over from London or still in London or here. It was a bit stressy. We found them in the end."

The delay kept Hull from getting any time on the course on Tuesday, and she played a full 18-hole practice round on Wednesday.

"I don't remember the last time I played an 18-hole practice round. I usually just do nine and nine, see the course once, and that's it. It was a pretty long practice round," Hull said. "And I had really, really bad stomach cramps yesterday as well, but I had to play. So I didn't feel the best, but I woke up this morning and felt fine and played all right, so there you go."

Hull felt comfortable with the setting at Sahalee as it reminded her of Woburn Golf Club, her home course in Milton Keynes in England.

They have three different golf courses there and the Duchess (course) is just like this, but this is a bit longer," Hull said. "I feel pretty comfortable. I love tree-lined golf courses. The tighter it is, usually the better I play."

Hull had just one "silly bogey" on the par 5 6th hole. She completely misjudged her birdie putt and hit it too firmly and with too much anticipated break leaving her a 5-foot try for par, which missed.

"I thought I was back at U.S. Open when I thought the putt had about ten feet of break on it and it only had about three, so I missed the hole by like seven feet left," Hull said. "The next hole I bounced back with birdie so it was all right."

Corpuz is coming off her best result of the year with a T-5 performance last week at the Meijer LPGA Classic. She had three birdies and a lone bogey as par of her 2-under par round.

"It feels like the game has been coming around," Corpuz said. "Definitely feels like it's in a good spot now. Yeah, just always trying to work to get better."

Like Korda, Boutier finished her round with a birdie on the par 9th. Boutier stuffed a 7-iron in to three feet for a closing birdie.

"I was a little bit in between clubs but decided to go with the 7-iron, and hit it really solid and had a good chance for birdie on the last hole. It's nice to be able to finish with a birdie," Boutier said.

Boutier bogeyed the par-4 14th before going bogey-free for her final 13 holes of the day.

"I think my long game was very solid," she said. "I had quite a few birdie chances. Didn't make all of them, but had a decent look at few of them, so I think that was definitely very helpful."

Maguire said she has been struggling off the tee with her driver recently with misses high and right. Just such a drive led to a bogey on the par 4 7th hole on Thursday, but four birdies on the day also got her into the clubhouse at 2-under par.

Akie Iwai, Arpichaya Yubol and Amy Yang also finished at 2-under from the morning rounds.

2019 Women's British Open champion Hinako Shibuno, European Solheim Cup team member Madeline Sagstrom, former University of Oregon player Caroline Inglis, and Mao Saigo posted their 70s in the afternoon session.

Inglis was one of three players to qualify for the U.S. Women's Open from the sectional qualifying location at Rainier Golf & Country Club in May. Inglis survived a seven-hole playoff with Ssu-Cha Cheng, who is also in the field this week at Sahalee. 

Brooke Henderson, the 2016 champion of the KPMG Women's PGA Championship at Sahalee, finished her opening round with a 1-over par 73. Lydia Ko, whom Henderson beat in a playoff in 2016, opened with a 3-over 75.

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