South Korea’s Jeon Ji-won made a hole-in-one on the way to a six-under par 64 and a share of the lead with England’s Charley Hull before darkness halted Thursday’s first round in the LPGA Annika tournament.
Jeon aced the 182-yard par-3 third hole at Pelican Golf Club in Belleair, Florida.
“I hit it and I saw the one bounce and then it went in the hole,” she said. “It was very cool to see the hole-in-one actually going into the hole.”
It was her fourth hole-in-one. The first came two years ago and the other three this season, one last month, in Shanghai, and the other in August, in Portland, where she shared ninth for her only LPGA top-10 result.
“I didn’t even really trying to make the hole-in-one,” she said of her ace binge. “I just see a target and let the environment do the rest of it.”
She became the first LPGA player since American Danielle Kang in 2014 to make three aces in one season.
South Korean Lee Mi-Hyang and Scot Gemma Dryburgh shared third on 65. Top-ranked Nelly Korda was in a fifth-place pack on 65 when darkness fell with 13 players yet to complete their first round, none of them among the top 20.
Jeon, a back-nine starter, birdied the par-3 12th, par-5 14th and par-4 17th before closing her first nine with a bogey at 18 but responding with a birdie at the first.
After her ace, Jeon answered a bogey at the fifth with birdies at six and the par-5 seventh.
Hull, also a 10th-tee starter, opened with a birdie, added back-to-back birdies at the 14th and par-3 15th and followed a bogey at 17 with birdies at 18 and one before sharing the lead thanks to back-to-back birdies at seven and eight.
World number 12 Hull, who has two LPGA titles, won her fourth Ladies European Tour title — and first in three years — two weeks ago at Riyadh.
“I feel like I’ve been playing very well all year,” Hull said. “Felt very confident and cool when I won. Sometimes you just forget how to win so that has reminded me how to win.”
– Korda ‘a little rusty’ –
Korda was back in competition after a neck injury sidelined her last month.
“I definitely felt a little rusty, maybe a little bit nervous on the first couple holes,” Korda said. “It sucks being injured.”
The American was tied on 66 with Norwegian Celine Borge, American Cheyenne Knight, Swede Maja Stark, Australian Minjee Lee and Spaniard Carlota Ciganda.
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