With three birdies and an eagle in her first five holes, Lexi Thompson quickly jumped to the top of the leaderboard early in the first round of the Evian Championship. Thompson, who started the day on the back-nine, had an impressive birdie-eagle-birdie-birdie stretch that started on the 12th-hole. Thompson, paired with Sandra Gal (E) and Paula Creamer (+3) start their second round at 12:58 p.m. on Friday. She went out in 31 before shooting even par on her second nine of the day. She posted an opening round 5-under par, 66 to lead by as many as three strokes during the morning wave.
“It feels great to have a stretch of holes like that and hitting good golf shots off the tee or into the hole or making a few good putts out there it's important in a major championship,” Thompson told the media after her round Thursday. “But you just have to take one shot at a time and not get ahead of yourself because, I mean, shots can get away from you out here. If you hit it in the rough, the rough's pretty thick, so you know you have to make some good pars if you miss the fairway.”
Already a major champion having captured the 2014 ANA Inspiration, Thompson went winless for more than a year after her victory before winning the Meijer LPGA Classic in July. Since then she has finished outside a tie for 17th.
“I've just been working on consistency in my game, just trying to get more consistent off the tee,” said Thompson. “I've been working on short game a lot, which is chipping and putting. But the big thing is the mental side of the game. I've been working with John Denney down in Florida and just trying to stay positive going into shots, doing my routine and focusing on my breathing walking into the shot. So I think that's helped.”
World No.1, 2 and 3 were paired together Thursday morning where Lydia Ko posted the low round of the group, carding a 2-under par 69. Currently three strokes behind Thompson, Ko was keeping an eye on the early leader throughout her round.
“I saw her score. I kind of realized it was going pretty low especially at the start of the round and she was only a couple groups in front of us,” Ko told the media after her round. “I was on the par-3, 14th or something, and that was only her fifth hole of the day. And I saw her to my left and showed her scorecard. I saw some birdies, some eagles, so that's a pretty consistent scorecard there. I think it's a great start to the tournament for her.”
Ko’s playing partners struggled in round one, with Inbee Park posting a 1-over par, 72 and Stacy Lewis carding a 2-over par, 73.
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