Hyo Joo Kim Leads After Round 1 at the RICOH Women's British Open

2015 RICOH Women’s British Open
Ayrshire, Scotland
First-Round Notes
July 30, 2015

Hyo Joo Kim is 20 years old and a rookie on the LPGA Tour but is no stranger to making an early statement at major championships. In her major debut last year at the Evian Championship as a non member, Kim opened up with a 61, the lowest round shot at a men’s or women’s major. She got off to another strong start this week at Turnberry to take the first round lead at the RICOH Women’s British Open with a bogey-free 64. The South Korea native had five birdies and an eagle on the par 5 14th hole and sits atop the leaderboard at 7-under par and one shot clear of Rolex Rankings No. 2 Lydia Ko and two-time major champ Cristie Kerr.

Kim’s post-round demeanor showed she isn’t fazed but the big stage and didn’t even know she was leading until the media notified her.

“I just found out now. I didn’t know,” said Kim. “I don’t feel anything yet. I was surprised when I came out. Kind of surprised.”

It’d be no surprise to see Kim in contention on the weekend. In her four career major starts, she’s recorded three top-11 finishes including her win in France. This year, she tied for 11th at the ANA Inspiration, tied for ninth at the KPMG Women’s PGA Championship and missed the cut at the U.S. Women’s Open.

She said she was thankful for the pristine scoring conditions and that her game has turned around. Surprisingly her last finish on the LPGA was a tied for fifth at the Marathon Classic two weeks ago.

“The last like couple weeks, I couldn’t swing very well,” said Kim. “But today I kept it in the fairway very well, and the second shots, hit the greens very well. I kept playing good today. Thank God it’s not windy. Not much wind when I played and no rain today.”

Kim is playing for her third-career LPGA victory and second title of the season - she won the JTBC Founders Cup in March. Lydia Ko had seven birdies on the day including four consecutive on Nos. 2-5 and only one dropped shot on the par 3 6th hole.

“Hit the ball pretty solid. Didn’t miss that many greens,” said Ko. “Made up and down for most of them. Just made one bogey, so that’s pretty good for me I think at the British Open. And I didn’t hit the pot bunkers, many of them. I hit some around the greens, but not in the fairways. I thought it’s really crucial to stay away from them.”

She credited the nice weather conditions and experience with playing partners Brittany Lincicome and Mika Miyazato for the enjoyable day.

“I tried to have fun out there,” said Ko. “I’m playing alongside two really nice girls, Brittany and Mika, so we all tried to have fun, smile out there, and you know, when you’re in a good group, you know that you’re starting off well and you’re going to have fun.”

OFF TO A GOOD START
At this point in 18-year-old Lydia Ko’s career she basically owns every age related winner’s record in LPGA Tour history. Youngest winner, youngest to reach No. 1 in the world, youngest to $1 million and $2 and 3. All Ko.

Well, all except one - youngest major champion, which is owned by Morgan Pressel.

But if Thursday’s first round is any indication, Ko might hold that record too after Sunday here at the RICOH Women’s British Open.

Ko’s mentioned frequently that her nerves are at a whole different level at majors and she’d yet to find a method for calming them as well as the seven-time LPGA winner would like. She recently hadn’t been in contention at the season’s first three majors and admitted she probably put too much self-induced pressure on herself at the majors. But whatever she did differently Thursday worked beautifully because Ko dominated Turnberry from the start Thursday with four straight birdies to open on a day where she fired her lowest ever round in a major - a 6-under-par 66.

“Hit it pretty solid. If I did miss it, I missed it in the right spots where it wasn’t that difficult to get up and down,” Ko said. “I holed a lot of solid putts for par and a couple solid putts for birdie.”

When Ko entered the scorer’s tent after as the second group in, it looked like she would hold the clubhouse lead for much of the day, but 20-year-old Hyo Joo Kim, the world No. 4 and holder of the lowest round in major championship history with her first round 61 a year ago at the Evian Championship, stole the clubhouse lead from Ko with an eagle on the 14th and a birdie at the 17th to post a 7-under-par 65.

ADD IT TO THE LIST
Cristie Kerr’s finished in the top 15 nine times in 14 appearances at this major championship. But she’s never won, coming as close as runner-up in 2006, and she’s hoping that changes this week.

She got off to a solid start on that endeavor Thursday with a 6-under-par 66 that saw her jump out to a 5-under start through five holes and made it look like she might threaten her British Open record – a 63 in the third round at the 2004 RICOH Women’s British Open – but she wasn’t able to keep up the torrid pace with bogeys at No. 12 and 13. But again, she turned it on to close with birdies at three of the last five holes to get within one of Hyo Joo Kim.

“I got off to a great start, and you know, I kind of faltered a little bit in the middle,” Kerr said. “But I had a great bounce back with two birdies after two bogeys. They say weather is moving in, so you just have to keep your head on straight and just keep going forward.”

With knowledge that weather’s on the way, the two-time major champion said she knew it was important to take advantage of Turnberry in advance. She did with her best first round ever in the RICOH Women’s British Open.

“I played within myself just trying to do myself, and not over worry about results,” Kerr said, “and it paid off.”

Kerr is looking to add her third different major championship to her already impressive competitive resume and currently has a U.S. Women’s Open (2007) and Women’s PGA Championship (2010) title to her name.

NUMBERS TO KNOW
0 – Bogeys on the card for Hyo Joo Kim Thursday. Hyo Joo also posted zero bogeys in her first round 10-under-par 61 at the Evian Championship a year ago which she went on to win for her first major title
2 – Morgan Pressel’s albatross on the par-5 14th is the first double eagle on the LPGA Tour in 2015. The last double eagle recorded was Lexi Thompson at the 2014 Lorena Ochoa Invitational – a year the LPGA Tour saw the most double eagles on record with four in the season
8 – Different countries represented by a player within three strokes of the lead
65 – 7-under-par 65 also led after the first round at the 2002 RICOH Women’s British Open at Turnberry. 15-under-par went on to win the championship.
66 – Lydia Ko’s first round 66 is her career best at a major championship
66 – Cristie Kerr’s best first round ever at a major championship
197 – Number of yards Morgan Pressel was out when she hit a baby draw five wood that went in the hole for a 2

QUOTES OF THE DAY
“I set my alarm for 3.30 and I kept pressing snooze on my phone until I really found out that, hey, I should get out of here. It’s obviously not easy to wake up at 3.30. Last week I said, hey, I haven’t had a six something tee time in a while and here I am with a six something tee time. It’s hard to wake up. But after I’m up, it’s good and I’m ready to go.” - Lydia Ko on her pre-round routine for her 6:41am tee time

“I’ve been treated like a princess. That about sums it up. I’m staying in one of the suites. The tournament brought me flowers. So I have literally been treated like a princess.”- Mo Martin on her reception at Turnberry as the defending champion this week

NICE RECENT STRETCH
For the last two weeks, Q Baek has been in contention heading into Sunday. She ended up finishing in a tie for 12th at the Marathon Classic Presented by Owens Corning and O-I and a tie for 5th at the Meijer LPGA Classic Presented by Kraft but she’s again put herself in position for a win after the opening round here in Scotland with a 5-under 67 Thursday and appears to be gaining comfort with her transition as an LPGA rookie.

“The last two weeks I felt more comfortable every time I played every week,” Baek said. “When I play, the other players help me a lot and make it more fun and give me more friendship, so that makes me feel comfortable that I could better.”

Baek won her first ever LPGA start at the 2014 LPGA KEB Hanabank Championship, beating 2015 major champions Brittany Lincicome and In Gee Chun in the playoff, and admitted that added a sense of complacency heading into her rookie season. What she found was a much higher level of competition than she envisioned after making it look so easy last year, and she’s easing into a confidence that she’s one of the best players in the field week in and week out.

Her strategy this week is pretty simple – avoid the bunker. Do that and she thinks she can continue to post numbers like she did Thursday.

“I missed a couple of fairways, but then I putted really, really well today,” Baek said. “Finished at 5-under and had a really good score. Especially long putts, I did very good.”